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Hasbrouck Heights police issued an alert to area law enforcement around noon Saturday after the owner happened to spot the red 320i sedan, which had been stolen from outside his Lodi home two days earlier, Carlstadt Deputy Police Chief Thomas Cox said.
The owner followed the vehicle as it headed south on Terrace Avenue / Hackensack Street toward Wood-Ridge, Cox said.
Just up the road was Carlstadt Officer Matthew Bartlett, who’d been monitoring radio reports and saw the BMW turn onto Hoboken Road headed east toward Route 17.
Bartlett summoned backup while following the sedan, whose driver made a sudden, multi-lane change to exit the southbound highway onto Union Avenue in East Rutherford.
Bartlett activated his lights and siren, but the driver sped off, hitting two other vehicles as he steered over the curb and sidewalk at the intersection, Cox said.
The driver – identified as Zyuan Quinerly, 18, of Newark -- headed towards Route 3 east and then onto the northbound Turnpike's western spur, blowing a tire as he headed through the Exit 18W toll plaza in East Rutherford, the deputy chief said.
The sedan rolled onto a grass berm and Quinerly and two passengers bailed out, he said.
New Jersey State Police, Bergen County sheriff’s officers and East Rutherford police joined their Carlstadt colleagues in establishing a perimeter.
Sheriff’s K-9 units were brought in and all three teens were quickly flushed out and seized.
The trio, including a 17-year-old juvenile, gave police bogus names but were identified through fingerprinting from prior incidents, the deputy chief said.
Quinerly and Jacob Larkin, also 18, of Hasbrouck Heights were charged by Carlstadt, Wood-Ridge and Hasbrouck Heights police. Counts included resisting arrest, hindering apprehension, employing a juvenile in a crime and possession of stolen property.
Both remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
The juvenile was issued a delinquency complaint for resisting arrest and hindering and was released to a guardian pending a hearing behind closed doors in the Family Part of Superior Court, also in Hackensack.
The BMW was impounded for processing before being returned to its owner, Cox said.
No injuries were reported at any point in the incident, he said.
The deputy chief thanked his fellow law enforcers -- including Hasbrouck Heights and Wood-Ridge police -- for their assistance.
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