Crime & Safety
Suspect Who Tried to Steal Voter's Vehicle Is Nabbed After Parkway Footchase
Woodbridge and Clark police gave chase to a car thief out to deprive a voter of his vehicle.
A crook who tried to steal the vehicle of a man who was going to vote in Colonia is in police custody.
A Colonia man had been at Colonia Middle School to cast his vote around 1:45 pm, according to Woodbridge Police Lieut. Joseph Goodheart. When the voter emerged from the polling place, he found the suspect seated in his car, where he was allegedly trying to steal the vehicle.
The victim protested, the suspect threw a punch at him, then fled on foot to the nearby Garden State Parkway, into neighboring Clark Township.
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Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb told Clark Patch that the suspect ran into a backyard on State Street, then managed to run across the north and southbound lanes of the Parkway, and finally was apprehended by Clark Police in the wooded area off of Madison Hill Road near Kumpf Middle School.
Goodheart said that a Woodbridge police officer and a NJ State trooper assisted in the apprehension.
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Witnesses reported seeing police vehicles from multiple towns as well as state troopers and officers with guns drawn during the chase.
The suspect was turned over to Woodbridge Police custody, Goodheart said, where he is being held. The incident is still under investigation, he added.
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