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The incident began on Tuesday, May 23 just before 2 p.m. when Westchester County Police received a report that a BMW wanted by the New York City Police Department for fleeing officers was traveling on Westchester Avenue in Harrison.
According to Westchester County PD, an officer found the BMW on the southbound Hutchinson River Parkway and tried to pull it over.
However, the driver pulled onto the shoulder, threw the car into reverse, and just missed hitting the patrol cruiser before fleeing at high speed through a coned-off construction zone, putting workers and other motorists in danger.
Police then stopped the chase for safety concerns, but an officer located further south on the parkway saw the suspect's vehicle exit at Mill Road in Eastchester. The officer began following the car there, but again the chase was ended because of traffic conditions.
The fleeing BMW then traveled to the Bronx River Parkway, where another officer spotted it near the Cross County Parkway. The chase was ended for a third time though when the BMW crossed into New York City.
This did not stop police in Westchester though, as officers kept watching for it to possibly return and kept searching the area. Finally, at 2:50 p.m., police found the car parked on South 4th Avenue in Mount Vernon, and began waiting for the suspect to appear.
Around 25 minutes later at 3:15 p.m., a man approached the BMW and allegedly tried swapping its license plate from the improper New Jersey plate that had been already on it. At this point, officers moved in to catch the suspect, but he was not ready to give up and began running away.
Police then set up a perimeter with the help of officers from Mount Vernon, and enlisted the help of a K9 unit to help sniff the suspect out.
Eventually, the K9's nose led officers to a yard on South Fifth Avenue, and the suspect, 28-year-old Easton Spencer of Mount Vernon, was taken into custody without incident.
Spencer was charged with:
- Second-degree reckless endangerment;
- Third-degree fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle;
- Third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle;
- Second-degree obstruction of governmental administration.
Spencer was also issued traffic tickets for numerous offenses, police said.
Additionally, he was also found to have warrants in Mount Vernon as well as other locations. He was booked at WCPD headquarters before being turned over to Mount Vernon Police.
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