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Detectives Yamil Pimienta and Mohammad Bashir stopped the Mazda CX5 – reported stolen out of Jersey City – near the corner of 10th Avenue and East 24th Street shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday.
They’d gotten out and were approaching the vehicle when the driver first backed up a bit and then hit the gas and sped away, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
The detectives chased the SUV through Clifton and Passaic on southbound Route 20, then south on Route 21 through Nutley and Belleville, he said.
Approaching Clark Street, the Mazda “struck another vehicle and careened into a snow bank before striking a pole and disabling the vehicle,” ending the 18-mile chase, Speziale said.
Four occupants bailed out but were captured with help from Clifton and Newark police, he said.
Police recovered two weapons – one a 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a high-capacity magazine, the other a loaded .38-caliber Arminius revolver, the director said.
Charged with weapons and stolen property possession were Jayson Rodriguez, 21, and Julio Cabrera, 19, both of Paterson, Carlos Tavares, 20, of Jersey City and a 17-year-old Paterson boy.
Detectives also tied the SUV and the guns to the robbery of a River Street deli last Saturday, for which Cabrera, Rodriguez and the boy were also charged.
The adults were sent to the Passaic County Jail to await first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson. The juvenile was turned over to juvenile authorities.
The guns were being submitted to the New Jersey State Police Ballistics Laboratory to determine whether they could be linked to other crimes.
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