Stolen Car Chase In Paramus Sees Cop And Women Hurt, Teens Arrested

PARAMUS, NJ — A cop and two women were sent to the hospital when teens in a stolen SUV tried to escape police and crashed instead, Paramus officials said Thursday.

The driver, 17, slammed into two cars — a cop car and a Lexus with the two women inside it — during the chase that ended near Century and Paramus roads late Wednesday night, Paramus police chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said.

The chase began when cops found the 17-year-old and two other teens, ages 15 and 16, trying to steal a car on Lawrence Drive about 11:30 p.m., Ehrenberg said.

The teens sped off, in a Hyundai Tucson that had been reported stolen in Irvington earlier that day, with Officer Slavko Bajovic on their tail, police said.

The officer was able to chase the teens onto a dead-end street, but the teens hit the gas (and Bajovic's car) then sped south on Farview Avenue, said Ehrenberg.

When the teens crashed into the Lexus, they jumped out of the car and tried to run away, but were soon captured and arrested, police said.

The two women, ages 56 and 22, were hospitalized with minor injuries, said police.

The 17-year-old was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, attempted auto theft, stolen vehicle possession, and eluding, police said.

Both younger teens were charged with joyriding and the 16-year-old also received charges of resisting arrest and attempted theft auto, police said.

The 17-year-old was remanded to the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center, and the two others were taken back to their homes in Newark, when family members were unable to pick them up from police headquarters, police said.