49°
Deiby Valdez-Santos, a 27-year-old landscaper from East Harlem, and Jose E. Rodriguez-Castillo, a 25-year-old mechanic from Forest Hills, were both charged with drug possession, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Valdez-Santos, the driver, was also charged with eluding, Musella said.
A prosecutor’s investigator had pulled over the pair's Honda sedan around 1 p.m. Wednesday on Route 80 and got out of his car when the driver suddenly hit the gas and sped off, Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti said.
The detective called in the vehicle’s Connecticut license plate, which turned out to not match the car, the chief said.
Another BCPO detective spotted the Honda a short time later -- this time on eastbound Route 80 -- and tried pulling it over, he said. But the driver kept going.
The detective terminated the pursuit and pulled back out of concerns for civilian safety, Anzilotti said.
A short distance ahead, the driver tried to make an abrupt turn from the far left lane to the Hudson Street exit in Hackensack.
“He took it too fast,” the chief said.
The car ended up going up on the grass media, hitting a wall and landing on its side.
It also sideswiped another vehicle, but no one was injured, Anzilotti said.
The first detective arrived and joined the pursuing investigator in taking the car’s two occupants into custody, he said.
A judge ordered that Valdez-Santos remain held in the Bergen County Jail pending further court action.
Rodriguez-Castillo, meanwhile, was released on his own recognizance pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
New Jersey State Police investigated because a law enforcement agency was involved in a pursuit that ended in a motor vehicle accident.
******
ALSO SEE: A Little Ferry man thought he was about to hook up with a female prostitute who turned out to be one of three Bronx men who mugged him at a South Hackensack motel, authorities said.
******
Click here to follow Daily Voice Englewood and receive free news updates.
