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Kevin Acosta was being held in the Passaic County Jail on what are now much more serious charges, including aggravated assault with a weapon and resisting arrest, along with more than a dozen traffic offenses.
Acosta was free on $25,000 bail after being arrested by Garfield police on theft charges last August when Passaic police said they tried to pull him over for running a red light around 1:30 a.m. yesterday.
Clifton police began chasing his Hyundai into Elmwood Park and then through Lodi before crashing on the front lawn of Hasbrouck Heights home. He got out and tried to run but was grabbed by the Clifton officers, authorities said.
Late last August, Garfield police said Acosta pulled up to two 14-year-old boys who were walking on Outwater Lane near Chestnut Street, asked to borrow their cellphone, then drove off with it.
Acosta then asked a 17-year-old boy on Palisade Avene near Garfield High School for directions and snatched his phone, then approached a 16-year-old boy and his friend on Van Winkle Avenue, asked to use a phone and made off with it.
Detectives obtained surveillance video from the high school to get the license plate of the white 2006 Acura TL that Acosta was driving.
With help from Clifton police, they stopped the car the next day near the corner of Lexington and Russell avenues in Clifton, arrested Acosta and recovered two of the phones.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy GARFIELD PD
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