Hillside NJ Eluding Suspect Triggers Union County Chase
Years ago, I can recall almost daily newspaper reports of eluding through Union County. The stories usually involved someone fleeing in a stolen vehicle and attempting to reach Newark. The Star Ledger reported this morning that the same scenario of eluding in Union County occurred on thursday. The defendant took police on a chase through residential streets at high speed. While the incident ended in Newark when the eluder crashed into a curb, this was not until after the defendant committed several aggravated assaults by ramming police cars in an effort to escape. The charges against the suspect include eluding and aggravated assault.
New Jersey has a Second Degree eluding law which exposes an individual to up to ten (10) years in jail. The law is set forth at N.J.S.A. 2C:29-2 and provides that a person is guilty of eluding if "they knowingly attempt to flee or elude a law enforcement officer after having received a signal from the officer to bring the vehicle to a stop." The charge is enhanced to a Second Degree crime from Third Degree when, during the course of fleeing, a suspect "creates a risk of death or serious injury to another person."
The focus of our Eluding Charge Defense Attorneys in these types of cases is always to attempt to have the offense downgraded to a Third Degree. The reasons for this are mulitiple including avoidance of the presumption of incarceration carried by a Second Degree, the ineligibility for New Jersey Pretrial Intervention as a Second Degree, and the obvious jail exposure otherwise involved. The suspect in this case is going to have an exceedingly difficult time accomplishing this goal as his conduct was extreme.
