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Troy Weeks, 27, was charged with five counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of both a firearm and a stolen vehicle and several other offenses following the incident, Hawthorne Detective Lt. Matthew Hoogmoed said.
Weeks has a criminal history, including arrests in Essex County dating back to 2017, records show.
A Central Judicial Processing Court judge in Paterson nonetheless released him from the Passaic County Jail, with conditions, pending further court action following his arrest in Hawthorne, he said.
Borough police were behind Weeks when he got out of the 2021 BMW 7 Series sedan and entered a business on Wagaraw Road, Hoogmoed said.
They ran the license plate and learned that the car had been reported stolen out of the Long Island town of Southhampton, he said.
Officers approached Weeks as he got back into the vehicle, Hoogmoed said.
Seeing them, he put the BMW into reverse, ramming one police cruiser, the lieutenant said. Weeks then drove forward and hit another police car, just missing the officers and disabling the sedan, he said.
Police found a loaded handgun in the driver's seat area after taking him into custody, Hoogmoed said.
All told, Weeks was charged with 19 criminal complaints and traffic offenses before being sent to the Passaic County Jail.
The list includes five counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement officers, as well as gun possession, eluding, receiving stolen property, driving while suspended, leaving the scene of an accident and unsafely operating a vehicle, among other offenses.
The identity of the judge who released him under New Jersey's 2017 bail reform law couldn't immediately be determined.
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