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The events leading to the man’s arrest began during the early morning of Thursday, Feb. 1, when detectives in New Rochelle tried pulling over a suspicious vehicle.
According to New Rochelle Police Captain J. Collins Coyne, this car instead drove away at a fast speed, avoiding officers. Police still continued an investigation into the vehicle, though.
Later in the day around 10 a.m., the same car was seen stuck in traffic on Main Street near Memorial Highway. Police directing traffic in the area walked up to the vehicle and tried speaking to the driver, but he refused to communicate and instead drove over a nearby sidewalk, nearly hitting officers in the process and forcing them to jump out of the way, Coyne said.
Luckily, no pedestrians had been on the sidewalk at that time, Coyne added.
The suspect continued to flee into surrounding municipalities including Pelham, Scarsdale, and Eastchester, which he entered around 11 a.m., according to Eastchester Police.
Soon after this, Eastchester Police officers were able to find the vehicle and follow it on White Plains Road, eventually trying to pull it over.
After stopping though, the vehicle suddenly accelerated toward police in the only passable lane of traffic, again forcing an officer to jump out of the way to avoid being struck, Eastchester Police said.
Police continued to chase the car to the Bronx River Parkway, but lost sight of it after it sped away.
Eventually, New Rochelle detectives were able to develop leads and found the suspect’s vehicle in Pelham around 10 p.m. They also were able to find the suspect at Shooters Bar in New Rochelle at 155 North Ave.
Here, the suspect, identified as 28-year-old New Rochelle resident Paul Murch, tried to run from officers but was finally cornered and arrested.
Following his arrest in New Rochelle, police discovered Murch had extraditable warrants out of New Jersey for the charges of assault and eluding police. They also charged him with second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree obstruction of governmental administration before sending him back to Eastchester, where he was charged with:
- First-degree attempted assault;
Attempted aggravated assault of a police officer.
Murch was arraigned in Eastchester Town Court and taken to Westchester County Jail, where he is being held on bail.
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