A New Jeresey man died in a crash with a police car that was responding to a report of a speeding motorcyclist who led cops on a chase through several towns before he crashed, authorities said.
The chase began in Paramus, where police said they tried to pull over a speeding 2016 Yamaha R1 motorcycle that was zigzagging between lanes on Route 17 north. But the driver sped away, eluding police.
Another Paramus police unit spotted the motorcycle as it zipped by, and officers began to follow it, Paramus police said. They, too, lost contact with the motorcycle when it drove in and around the Garden State Plaza parking lot and eventually onto Route 4 eastbound.
Paramus police called off the pursuit and issued a be-on-the-lookout notice to surrounding communities.
Meanwhile, the motorcycle driver continued on and ultimately crashed into a car on Spring Valley Road in Maywood. Maywood police responded and detained the motorcycle driver, and alerted Paramus police.
Police in nearby Hackensack were responding to the accident scene when one of its patrol cars crashed into a civilian vehicle on Summit Avenue near Ross Avenue, according to the Bergen County prosecutor's office.
That crash resulted in the death of the 67-year-old driver from Hackensack, the prosecutor's office said.
Local
Paramus police said the crashed motorcyclist was the one they had pursued. The biker wasn't being chased by police at the time of the crash, witnesses told police, but he was speeding.
The motorcycle driver, identified as 31-year-old Salvatore Deangelis, was charged with eluding, reckless driving, careless driving and other charges. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with injuries that weren't considered life-threatening, and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, police said.
The prosecutor's office said it was investigating and planned to provide further information Friday.
