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It was just after 2 a.m. Friday, Jan. 6, when Teaneck police responded to a report of a vehicle crashing into a pole at the intersection of Degraw Avenue and Gifford Place.
They found a woman on the ground and another rendering aid, Acting Police Chief Andrew R. McGurr said.
The officers also noticed a man trying to tip away, the chief said, adding that he refused their orders to stop
An area resident also told them that a third woman, possibly the driver, had also bolted on foot.
The man, identified as Jimmy Harris, 34, of Jersey City, had a fresh cut on his lip and appeared intoxicated when Officers Jorge Cano Vanegas and Howell Lopez caught up to him, the chief said.
It turned out he also had a loaded gun in his waistband, McGurr said.
Harris refused medical treatment and was brought to headquarters, where police learned that the handgun had been reported stolen out of North Carolina, he said.
The Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps took the injured woman to nearby Holy Name Medical Center for treatment of the accident injuries.
The woman who was tending to her, identified as Vashti Bachelor, 24, also of Jersey City, was arrested after she lied to the officers, the chief said.
That left the missing driver.
It was more than 7½ hours later that officers responded to a 9:40 a.m. call of an intruder in the basement of a Willow Street home.
The homeowner confronted the woman, who fled, McGurr said.
Police converged on the area and Sgt. Randy Morales found an unsecured door at the Willow Gardens complex on Willow Street, off Fort Lee Road, not even a five-minute walk from the accident scene.
Morales found the suspect, identified as Bariah Lane, 22, of the Fords section of Woodbridge, hiding in a corner of the laundry room, McGurr said.
She’d changed from a white jumpsuit that she’d been wearing into a green t-shirt, sweatpants and slippers, he said.
Lane, who was charged with burglary and obstruction, was sent to the Bergen County Jail along with Harris, who was charged with weapons possession, obstruction and receiving stolen property. They remained held Saturday pending first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Bachelor was released on a summons charging her with hindering apprehension, a misdemeanor, which will be handled in Municipal Court.
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