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It began when Leonia Police Sgt. Ray Forsdahl tried to stop a BMW with New York plates for a violation in the area of Broad and Lakeview avenues, Capt. Chris Garris said.
The driver kept going, though, getting onto southbound Route 95, the captain said on Friday, Dec. 1.
Forsdahl pursued him for a ways, then dropped back out of safety reasons, he said.
Besides, he knew who the driver was.
Didn’t take long to figure out where he laid his head, either.
To call Brandon Warren, 28, “known to police” is an understatement. He has a lengthy adult criminal history dating back to his late teens, records show.
In Bergen County alone, Warren’s been arrested by police in Elmwood Park, Englewood, Garfield, Ridgefield Park, Rochelle Park and Teaneck over the past several years. Some of the arrests have involved alleged assaults, according to jail records.
Warren's been jailed no fewer than three times just this year, those records show. They also show that judges have quickly released him under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
Warren apparently skipped court in at least two of the cases -- in Elmwood Park and Teaneck -- leading to warrants for his arrest, according to jail records.
He was also driving with a suspended license at the time of the pursuit, which Forsdahl and Detective Sgt. Michael Jennings discovered during a brief investigation that immediately followed, Garris said.
They also learned that Warren has most recently been living in Englewood just a couple of blocks from the Leonia border, the captain said.
It was early Wednesday, Nov. 29, when Forsdahl went to that address, spotted the BMW and waited. Sure enough, Warren emerged, got into the vehicle – and this time was stopped before he could go anywhere.
Warren was charged with eluding a law enforcement officer and obstruction before Leonia police sent him to the Bergen County Jail.
It may not surprise some that a judge in Hackensack released him the very next day.
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