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Sgt. Leigh Cadigan stopped the black Nissan Altima at Outwater Lane and Main Street after 25-year-old Marlon Vancooten ran a red light around 4:30 a.m., Police Chief Robert Kugler told Daily Voice.
"As Cadigan exited the police car, the driver sped north on Main Street," he said.
The pursuit continued through Rochelle Park before Vancooten lost control of the car and it crashed into a home on Spring Valley Avenue at Farview Avenue, he said.
Vancooten tried to run but backup Officer Robert Littlejohn Jr. chased him down, the chief said.
Paramus firefighters doused a blaze ignited in the engine during the crash, he said.
"It's reckless hooligans like this who menace and endanger the lives of everyday innocent people" Kugler said. "We were lucky to run into him at a time when there was very little to no traffic on the roadways."
Vancooten was being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with eluding with a substantial risk of injury.
Police interviewed a passenger detained by Officer Robert Littlejohn Jr. after finding various gift cards and other merchandise possibly bought with bogus credit cards in the car, Kuglers said.
"Although she was released without any charges at this time, we may re-visit her again for follow-up conversation and/or delivery of paperwork and a date for a court appearance," he said.
Neither she nor Vancooten was injured, the chief said.
At almost the same time, a driver bailed and ran from a 1999 Mitsubishi that rolled over on President and Second streets in Saddle Brook. Detectives were investigating, Kugler said.
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