79°
Officer Michael Trover stopped the 1993 Toyota Corolla on southbound Route 208 for an equipment violation late yesterday morning.
Trover was approaching the car when he noticed a woman ducking down in the back seat, Detective Sgt. Eric Reimy told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.
Suddenly, the driver hit the gas, he said.
Trover ran back to his cruiser and chased the Toyota first onto Fair Lawn Avenue and then down the first left on Chandler Drive — which dead-ends.
The driver — identified as 29-year-old Richard Hollingworth — hopped out and tried running, but Trover dashed 150 or so yards and tackled him, Reimy said.
The woman got out of the car and began walking away, but witnesses pointed her out to backup officers, who arrested her, the sergeant said.
Both Hollingworth and the woman — identified as Rebecca Santiago, 29, of Ringwood — were carrying hypodermic needles, he said.
Hollingworth also had a small amount of heroin on him and a knife between the seats of the car, which had been reported stolen twice this past week out of Paterson, Reimy said. The owner picked up the Corolla after the first theft, the sergeant said, “but then it was gone the next day.”
Hollingworth remained held on $25,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with resisting arrest, eluding police, a weapons count and receiving stole property — the car.
Santiago was released on a summons charging her with possession of the needle.
Both have area criminal histories, mostly for drug-related crimes, records show.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy GLEN ROCK PD
Click here to follow Daily Voice South Passaic and receive free news updates.
