3 Nabbed In Hazlet Car Burglary After Early Morning Pursuits

HAZLET, NJ — A car burglary in progress overnight Thursday sparked a police pursuit on roads and on foot in Hazlet and neighboring towns, resulting in the arrests of three men from Hudson County, police said.

Hazlet police assured residents Thursday morning that there was no longer a threat to the public.

And they described the police response in Hazlet, Holmdel and Aberdeen as an "extraordinary effort," as police tracked fleeing suspects, finding two under a resident's pool deck on Daniel Drive.

The incident began at about 1:35 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29, when police received a 911 call about an in-progress burglary to a motor vehicle.

While going to the scene, patrols were notified there were three or four suspects involved in the incident who fled the scene in a grey sedan going toward Middle Road.

Responding Hazlet officers then flooded the area.

Here is the sequence of events, according to Hazlet police:

Field Training Officer Nicholas Hungerford and Officer Shane Hicks saw a grey sedan parked improperly on Ned Drive and approximately three people were fleeing from the immediate area of the car.

Police first nabbed a man, 26, of Bayonne in Hudson County.

Then all responding officers began canvassing that neighborhood and set up a perimeter to contain the other suspects who fled on foot.

Meanwhile, another person, a man, was located in a grey Honda Accord and Officer Zachary Kruk gave him verbal commands to get out of the car. The man then took off in the car at a high rate of speed, striking a parked car.

The fleeing sedan turned onto Poole Avenue, where Kruk lost sight of the vehicle as it ran the red light at Highway 35 and continued on to Bethany Road.

Due to the potential danger to others, Kruk returned to the neighborhood. At that point, Holmdel police and surrounding jurisdictions were notified and given a description of the sedan and a description of the driver.

Back in the neighborhood of the original incident, Holmdel K9 Officer Darryl Jackson and his K9 Murph assisted Officers Brian Jelinski, Quinn and Kruk in a track for remaining suspects on foot in the area.

The K9 track located the two remaining men who were hiding under a pool deck in a backyard on Daniel Drive, police said.

Those two men, 21 and 19, both of Jersey City, were taken into custody.

Hazlet police processed all three men arrested and charged them with the following, according to police:

• Gregory Bryant Jr., the 26-year-old from Bayonne, was charged with conspiracy and released on summons.
• Nasair Green, the 21-year-old from Jersey City, was charged with burglary and transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold.
• William Fields, the 19-year-old from Jersey City, was charged with conspiracy and transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution.

"This was an extraordinary effort by all officers involved to apprehend three of four of the subjects in this matter. We would like to thank Holmdel Police Department and Aberdeen Police Department who assisted in setting up the perimeter and Holmdel Police Department’s K9 Officer Jackson and K9 Murph for their assistance," Hazlet police said.