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It began shortly after Montville police issued an alert for two vehicles, one of which had just been taken by thieves in ski masks, shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27.
A short time later, the masked bandits approached a Porsche at the Starbucks on Route 23 just south of the "spaghetti bowl" intersection in Wayne near Willowbrook Mall, Wayne Detective Capt. Dan Daly said.
They abandoned their attempt after discovering it occupied, he said Monday.
The driver immediately called police with a license plate number and description of their vehicle – a Kia that had been reported stolen out of Jersey City.
Twenty minutes later, Fairfield police alerted their Wayne colleagues that the vehicle had circled back through their town.
They chased it but ended the pursuit in the area of Passaic Avenue and eastbound Route 46, Daly said.
Wayne Police Officer Spencer Schoonmaker had positioned himself alongside the eastbound highway and went after the suspects as they passed.
They soon became caught in traffic in Little Falls, however.
At that point, the driver intentionally rammed the officer’s car and collided with several civilian vehicles on the highway near Browertown Road, Daly said.
Five occupants bailed out and ran through highway traffic, he said.
Schoonmaker chased down one of them, a juvenile who witnesses said ran east in the westbound lanes.
Little Falls and Woodland Park police nabbed two others – one an adult identified as and the other a juvenile, Daly said.
Civilian witnesses said both were nabbed trying to flee through an apartment complex on Lower Notch Road just off the highway.
The search for the other two was eventually abandoned after Wayne police were joined by officers from Clifton, Fairfield, Little Falls, Woodland Park and Montclair State University, as well as the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and New Jersey State Police, he said.
The eastbound highway was temporarily shut down near the Route 3 split before finally being reopened shortly before 4 p.m., motorists said. One minor injury involving one of the civilians was reported.
Ismael F. Gonzalez, 20, of Newark, was sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson on charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, eluding, illegal weapons possession and employing a juvenile in a crime, among other offenses.
Delinquency complaints were signed against the juveniles charging them with resisting arrest, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and joyriding, Daly said. Both were released to their respective guardians, he said.
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