The Jersey Journal
Cops arrested two car thieves and seized a sawed-off shotgun after a high-speed chase ended in a crash, reports said.
Gamar Johnson, 22, of Irvington, and Chad Pamplin, 18, of East Orange, received 11 charges each, including aggravated assault on a police officer, burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, eluding a police officer, possession of weapon for unlawful purposes, defacing a weapon and possession of burglary tools.
The chase began Saturday around 1:30 a.m., when cops saw a green Nissan Maxima stopped on Carteret Avenue. They then saw three men standing near a 1996 Chevrolet Caprice with 24-inch rims, and one of the men was carrying a yellow “dent puller” tool, cops said. The men, apparently seeing the cops, then quickly walked away from the Caprice and back to the Maxima.
Believing the men were intending to steal the Caprice, police followed the three as they drove off in the Maxima, with a fourth man — Johnson — at the wheel.
As they drove off of Garfield Avenue, turning north onto Ocean Avenue, a black four-door Acura Legend suddenly pulled out and got between the police and the Maxima, and at this point Johnson attempted to lose his pursuers by accelerating at a high rate of speed on Ocean Avenue.
Police maneuvered around the Acura and chased the Maxima as other police joined in the pursuit. During the chase, Johnson sideswiped another police car coming in the opposite direction, reports said. Johnson then lost control as he attempted to swerve onto Bramhall Avenue, hitting a light pole at the corner of Ocean and Bramhall avenues.
The four men then bailed out of the Maxima and fled west on Bramhall Avenue, with police chasing them.
Johnson was caught at Bramhall and Madison avenues but fought with police until he could be subdued. Pamplin was found hiding under a nearby car, but the other two men got away, cops said.
Searching the car, police found a sawed-off shotgun wedged between the center console and the passenger seat, reports said. They also found the dent puller on the floor of the passenger’s seat, with the yanked-off ignition from the Caprice attached to it.
“These officers did an outstanding job,” Lt. Edgar Martinez said. “After a short pursuit they were able to apprehend two of the individuals and take a deadly weapon off the street. Hopefully these arrests will lead to the arrest of the other two suspects.”
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