A Red Bank woman was arrested Monday after a wild motor-vehicle pursuit by police in which she crashed her SUV three times, taking down a utility pole in the process, Chief Darren McConnell said Tuesday.
The incident began around 5:30 p.m., when Officer Michael Baron, while on patrol in the area of Broad Street and Pinckney Road, saw a white Honda SUV crossing the median into oncoming traffic while heading south on Broad Street, McConnell said in a prepared statement.
The SUV then failed to stop for the traffic light at Broad and Maple Avenue before turning onto westbound Newman Springs Road, McConnell said.
Baron attempted to stop the vehicle near Henry Street, but the driver sideswiped a utility pole and continued for a short distance before stopping, McConnell said.
“While Baron was interviewing the driver, she did not appear lucid or aware of her surroundings and then suddenly accelerated, fleeing the scene in her vehicle,” McConnell said. “Due to the previous hazardous violations by the driver and the apparent impairment of the driver, Baron began a vehicle pursuit westbound on Newman Springs Rd.”
The SUV driver was involved in a minor collision with another vehicle at Hance Avenue, but continued to flee, briefly turning into a residential area in Tinton Falls before returning to Hance Avenue and traveling south, McConnell said.
Near the intersection of Hance and Sycamore Avenue, in Tinton Falls, the driver “lost control of her vehicle and struck a utility pole, snapping it and causing wires to arc,” he said. “Due to the safety concern of the broken pole and live wires, the driver was removed from the vehicle by Officer Baron and other Red Bank officers who responded to assist.”
The driver, identified as 36-year-old Red Bank resident Linda Martinez, was taken to Riverview Medical Center by MONOC EMS with minor injuries, he said.
Police subsequently found that Martinez was the subject of an active warrant from Ocean County Superior Court. Additionally, she was charged with eluding police and numerous motor vehicle violations. DWI charges are pending the results of toxicological tests taken at the hospital, McConnell said.
She was later transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township, where she remained in custody Tuesday night on $10,700 bail for the Ocean County warrant and without bail on the latest charges, according to the county sheriff’s website.
McConnell told redbankgreen that Baron and others “put themselves at risk to protect someone who actually created the situation on her own volition. It says a lot about their dedication for helping people.”
