A paramedic washes an ailing suspect’s eyes out with saline solution.
Police said they apprehended three suspects cruising the West River neighborhood in a stolen red Honda Civic around 1:30 p.m Wednesday.
“Our auto theft unit guys were patrolling the area and happened to see the Honda. They thought it looked suspicious,” said Sgt. Richard Miller.
Here’s what happened, according to Miller:
Officers Eddie Morrone and Billy Hurley spotted the Honda on Judson Avenue in the West River neighborhood, ran its plates, and found out it was a stolen vehicle. They flipped on their lights. The driver failed to pull over.
“They didn’t speed up at all, but they refused to pull over,” Miller said. Then the driver pulled behind a house on Judson. Three men bailed from the car.
“We gave them chase through the backyards,” said Miller. Officers Hurley and Joe Roberts caught one adult suspect in the middle of Judson Avenue. Officers arrested another man, who’s 25, in front of 7 Parmalee Avenue.
It was a struggle to apprehend the suspect on Parmalee Avenue, Miller said; he tried to fight arrest. Lt. Holly Wasilewski used pepper spray to subdue him. He allegedly had crack and marijuana and cash on him.
Uma Ramiah Photo
While one suspect was on his way to Union Station, the one arrested on Parmelee Avenue was being held in the back of a police car, being treated by paramedics at the scene after encountering the pepper spray.
“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” he exclaimed, before vomiting on the side of the car.
A third suspect got away — for a while. Officer Roberts eventually spotted him “popping out between” two houses where some people were working on a car; Roberts caught him without a struggle.
All the suspects are adults. They face various stolen-car, resisting arrest and drug possession charges.