WESTFIELD – A city man may have learned that, when playing “tag” with police, one doesn’t become “safe” by getting “home” without being stopped.
Westfield Police Officer Jarad Rowe reports he was monitoring traffic on Main Street at 2:05 a.m. on Monday when he observed an eastbound Mazda traveling at what he estimated to be 60 mph.
Rowe reports, in a court document, that his radar unit showed the vehicle to be operating at 59 mph when he pulled out behind the speeding car and gave pursuit.
When he activated his unmarked cruiser’s blue lights, Rowe reports the car accelerated to a speed of 70 mph and blew through the red light at the Westfield Shops, failing to “stop or even slow down”.
At the Little River Road intersection, Rowe reports, the car “failed to negotiate the turn due to its high rate of speed and, as a result, crossed the double yellow lines into the northbound lane”. The car traveled “approximately 60 feet” in the wrong lane before returning to the southbound lane, he reports.
Upon reaching Tow Path Lane, the car abruptly turned and pulled into the driveway at 6 Tow Path Lane.
Rowe reports that when he opened the car’s door he advised the operator, found to be Angel L. Dejesus, 27, of 6 Tow Path Lane, that he was under arrest for failure to stop for a police officer and for operating a motor vehicle to endanger.
Then, Rowe wrote, Dejesus “refused to get out of the vehicle and yelled that he had done nothing wrong”.
Rowe then “pulled the defendant from the vehicle and placed him in the prone position in in order to control his movements” but the man “continued to resist arrest by tucking both his arms under his chest and stomach”.
Officer Effrain Luna arrived to assist and together the officers handcuffed Dejesus and transported him to the station where he was charged with resisting arrest, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for police, speeding in violation of special regulations and failure to stop or yield.
Dejesus was arraigned in Westfield District Court on Tuesday where he was released on his personal recognizance pending an April 13 hearing.
