Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Man in Stolen Van Leads Police on High-Speed Chase Through Queens

By Katie Honan | December 27, 2013 11:45am
 Men in a stolen van led police on a high-speed chase through Corona over the weekend, police said.
Men in a stolen van led police on a high-speed chase through Corona over the weekend, police said.
View Full Caption
Shutterstock

CORONA — A man driving a stolen van led police officers on a high-speed chase through East Elmhurst and Corona over the weekend, running red lights before eventually crashing to a halt against a guardrail, according to police.

Police arrested the van's driver, who they said refused to give his name and was carrying no ID, as well as passenger David Vega, 26. The men were inside a 2006 white Chevrolet van that sped away after police officers from the 115th Precinct attempted to pull it over just before 11 a.m. on Dec. 21, according to the criminal complaint. The van had been reported missing the previous evening, police said.

The high-speed chase started at Northern Boulevard and 84th Street and lasted close to a half-hour, as the van blew through a series of red lights, sending pedestrians and other cars scrambling to get out of the way to avoid it, according to the criminal complaint.

Additional police cars joined the chase down 34th Avenue and the van eventually crashed into a guardrail at the Hess gas station on Northern Boulevard and 97th Street, police said.

Vega got out of the van and flailed his arms and legs in an effort to not be handcuffed, police said. He was charged with criminal possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest. He was released on $1,000 bail and is due back in court on Jan. 7.

Information on his lawyer was not immediately available.

Other notable arrests in the 115th Precinct this week include:

► A man was caught breaking into an Argentinian restaurant in East Elmhurst early Sunday morning, according to police.

Jonathan Ceballos, 27, of Flushing, broke through the window of La Casa Del Gaucho on Astoria Boulevard before 9 a.m. on Dec. 22, police said.

He smashed bottles inside the restaurant and threw a cash register to the ground, breaking its screen, police said.

A neighbor called police after seeing the broken window, and an officer from the 115th Precinct found Ceballos still inside the restaurant, according to the NYPD.

He was arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief, and is currently being held in lieu of $5,000 bail.

His next court date is Jan. 6. Information on his lawyer was not immediately available.

► An East Elmhurst man beat and robbed a man inside his own apartment, swiping $200 from his jacket, police said.

Lamont Logan, 36, hit his victim in the face with a baseball bat inside Logan's 27th Avenue apartment about 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 22, police said. Logan and two other suspects also punched the victim in the face multiple times, then took $200 from his jacket, according to police.

Logan was later arrested and charged with robbery and assault. Police are still looking for the two other suspects, they said.

Logan was arraigned and released without bail on Dec. 23. He is due back in court on Jan. 27. His lawyer's information was not immediately available.