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And they weren't even chasing him when he crashed.
Officer Nicholas Tanelli tried to stop the 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee as it sped down southbound Route 17 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Thursday, April 7, Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said.
A computer check showed it had been stolen out of Mountain Lakes.
The driver turned off the Jeep’s lights, then hit a median on westbound Route 4 and kept going, Ehrenberg said.
Tanelli immediately terminated the pursuit under state attorney general guidelines, the chief said.
It wasn’t that long afterward that both Tanelli and Officer Michael Cleary saw the same Jeep speeding south on Paramus Road.
As the officers watched, the vehicle struck a curb on the ramp to the southbound Garden State Parkway. The driver lost control of the Jeep, which struck some bushes and a tree, coming to a stop.
He and a passenger then bailed out, Ehrenberg said
Tanelli and Cleary captured him, but the passenger got away, he said.
The driver, Marvin Louine, 19, of Orange, was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and eluding police before they released him -- under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law -- pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, the chief said.
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