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Township police responding to an 11:15 p.m. call arrived as Mark C. Todd, 46, of Hackensack from Janek’s Market-Deli on Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202).
Officer Martin Kilroy ordered him to stop, but Todd ran to a 1988 Oldsmobile parked on Reich Avenue and drove off on Ramapo Valley Road, nearly hitting a police cruiser driven by Officer Keith Iorio, Police Chief Stephen Jaffe said.
A brief high-speed chase followed at speeds reportedly over 100 miles an hour down southbound Route 17, with Kilroy, Iorio and Officer Timothy Letavish in pursuit.
The Olds crashed near the Dunkin Donuts just before the Lake Street exit.
Todd got out and tried to run but was quickly captured near Cigar World, Jaffe said.
He was carrying cash and cigarettes taken during the burglary, the chief said.
For more than 25 years, police throughout Bergen County have arrested and charged Todd with the type of crimes -- mostly burglaries -- that don’t put or keep him in jail pending trial.
He's piled up charges in the hundreds, combined, in Rochelle Park, Maywood, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Garfield, and elsewhere.
In recent years, New Jersey's 2017 bail reform act forced judges to release him.
This time, the coronavirus pandemic kept Todd from going to jail to await his first court appearance for the break-in and chase.
Todd was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation and then released pending a court hearing because of the pandemic.
Mahwah police charged him with burglary, eluding, resisting arrest and criminal mischief, Jaffe said.
They also issued several traffic summonses, he said.
Jaffe thanked Ramsey police for their assistance.
ALSO SEE: In the past two years, police in Rochelle Park, Maywood, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Garfield and Teaneck have filed dozens of charges against Todd following arrests, mostly for burglary, only to see him promptly released.
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