By KRIS WERNOWSKY
Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE - It took Kern Z. Mayers all of 15 minutes to sell crack cocaine to undercover troopers, ram his car into three police cars, injure two state troopers and then ditch his Nissan in Jenkins Township where he tried to catch a bus, state police said.
The 5--mile police chase through the streets of Wilkes-Barre, Plains Township and Jenkins Township came after a day-long state police undercover drug operation, according to Wyoming barracks spokesman trooper Tom Kelly.
The Jamaica-born Mayers, 27, was one of nearly nine unrelated drug dealers arrested Wednesday, but Kelly said Mayers was the only one who decided to run. Mayers currently calls Wilkes-Barre home, but he also lived in Brooklyn, N.Y.
According to Kelly:
During the controlled sales, undercover officers bought drugs from known dealers and uniformed officers swarmed in to make an arrest. Mayers drug sale took place near the Home Depot home improvement store, 53 Spring St., shortly before 4 p.m. When Mayers saw the officers in uniform he decided to flee.
Mayers crashed his dark blue late-model Nissan Maxima into three of the undercover police cars injuring one vice officer inside a vehicle, Kelly said. He also struck an undercover officer standing outside of his vehicle.
Neither trooper was seriously injured, but both were taken to an area hospital for treatment, Kelly said. Another undercover investigator at the scene was unscathed. The troopers names were not released to the press because of the nature of their undercover work, Kelly said.
Mayers continued to flee police as dozens of cruisers combed through the streets of Wilkes-Barre chasing reports of sightings. A state police helicopter kept tabs on Mayers as he sped down River Street in Plains Township making a right onto Saylor Avenue in Jenkins Township.
He left the battered car in the driveway of Ricks Body Shop, 105 W. Saylor Ave., and ran north toward River Street on foot where he tried to get on a Luzerne County Transportation Authority bus before he was captured by police, Kelly said.
Details about the other drug arrests made during the undercover operation were not made available as of Wednesday night.
Charges are expected to be filed against Mayers this morning.