A police pursuit of what turned out to be a stolen vehicle ended in a rollover crash in Red Bank early Monday morning, police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen.
The incident began at around 1 a.m. when Middletown police spotted the vehicle, which had previously been reported stolen from Carteret, and began pursuing it down Route 35 toward Red Bank, McConnell said.
Middletown Deputy Chief Steve Dollinger said patrols there “never really got close to” the sedan, and lost sight of it before it entered Red Bank via Cooper’s Bridge.
Middletown police alerted Red Bank, and borough Patrolman Sean Hauschildt, who was in the vicinity of Route 35, saw it head straight down Bridge Avenue at high speed, McConnell said.
By the time Hauschildt caught up to the vehicle, it had crashed and turned over in a driveway facing Bridge Avenue where it jogs at Drs. James Parker Boulevard, damaging both a house and an adjoining fence for B&C Custom Wood Stairs and Rail.
The vehicle had overturned, and its driver, and occupants, if any, had fled on foot. The suspect had not been located by 9 a.m., McConnell said.
Volunteer firefighters responded as a precaution to the 1:25 a.m. call, but no fire occurred, McConnell said.