Rider crashes, steals cop car......

[PeteSC]

(This one is a little hard to follow, but worth it.)


Man accused of stealing, fleeing in trooper's cruiser
Monday, August 08, 2005
BY MAURA McDERMOTT
Star-Ledger Staff
A Totowa man was taken into custody early yesterday after stealing a state trooper's cruiser and leading police on a brief chase along Route 80 in Passaic County, authorities said.

Nuccio Lisitano, 22, was shot in the left shoulder as he fled in the cruiser, said John Hagerty, a spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice.

State troopers had fired on the vehicle as Lisitano drove away, Hagerty said, adding that authorities are investigating whether it was a trooper's bullet that struck him.



   
 

Lisitano was under guard yesterday at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where he was treated for the non-life-threatening gunshot wound, Hagerty said.

The suspect also was injured when he crashed his motorcycle before the chase, authorities said.

Lisitano was charged with eluding police; aggravated assault for trying to run troopers down as he fled in the cruiser; and robbery and theft for stealing the vehicle, Hagerty said.

The chase began at about 12:30 a.m., when troopers spotted a crashed motorcycle on eastbound Route 80 near Exit 55 in Totowa, authorities said.

The troopers pulled over and saw a man running away. As the troopers chased the man, two more State Police cruisers pulled up.

Those two cruisers each were carrying a suspect accused of speeding on motorcycles on Route 80 several hours earlier, State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said.

The troopers joined the chase, leaving the suspects locked in the backs of the cruisers, Della Fave said.

Lisitano circled back, scrambled into one of the cruisers carrying a suspect and locked the front doors, Della Fave said.

As troopers tried to break the cruiser's windows to stop Lisitano from escaping, the suspect gunned the car in reverse, grazing one of the troopers, Della Fave said.

The officers fired at the fleeing cruiser, then chased Lisitano for several miles, until he ditched the vehicle near his home on Boyle Avenue in Totowa, authorities said.

Lisitano was hiding in an apartment down the street from his home when he was arrested, Della Fave said.

At least eight bags of white powder thought to be cocaine or heroin were later found in the area where Lisitano crashed his bike, Della Fave said.

Those two cruisers each were carrying a suspect accused of speeding on motorcycles on Route 80 several hours earlier, State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said.

   I hope the idiot locked in the back seat wet his damn pants as he sat there, getting shot at, as his squid brother tried to escape.