No officers were injured in the incident, which began with multiple calls from residents about a suspicious vehicle and sketchy people outside a Chestnut Place home shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, Franklin Lakes Police Capt. Mark McCombs said.
Responding officers Ryan Sweeney and Nicolas Foschini, along with Sgt. Nicholas Klein, quickly spotted a 2022 Alfa Romeo that had just been stolen from a home on High Mountain Road, the captain said.
It was riding in tandem with a 2019 Hyundai Tucson, which had also been stolen, he said.
Both drivers refused to stop, sparking a chase onto southbound Route 208 and then eastbound Route 4 – at which point one of the police vehicles was struck, McCombs said.
Both stolen vehicles then ran off the road at the entrance ramp to northbound Route 17, the captain said.
As they tried to re-enter the ramp, the Alfa Romeo hit a second police car and was disabled, he said.
Three occupants hopped out and ran.
Paramus police helped nab two of them on Garden State Plaza property, the captain said.
Nasiem D. Lee, 18, of Pleasantville was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, receiving stolen property and burglary and sent to the Bergen County Jail. He remained held there on Monday.
A 15-year-old boy caught with him was released to a guardian while police prepare delinquency charges.
Police were trying to identify and find the third occupant.
ANYONE with information about him is asked to call Franklin Lakes police: (201) 891-3131.
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