‘Made Several Phone Calls’ New Jersey Man Arrested After Bragging to Cops About Escaping Police Chase
A New Jersey man who reportedly led cops on a dangerous chase later called the police department to brag about eluding them. Perhaps not surprisingly, the police arrested him shortly thereafter.
The strange series of events began on Thursday, Jan. 29, when a man, upset about a motor vehicle ticket he had received the day before, called the East Rutherford Police Department headquarters.
Based on the strange and concerning comments he made during the call, and after he gave the police his location, the department dispatched officers to his address for a welfare check.
When officers arrived, they found him sitting in a white Kia Rio. That’s when the chase began.
Police charged the suspect with almost 20 traffic offenses
“Once Mr. Bhatt saw the police officers, he sped off and ran through a stop sign. He then improperly passed a vehicle and almost hit an oncoming vehicle. Officers attempted to initiate a motor vehicle stop, but Vishal accelerated at a high rate of speed, illegally passing several vehicles, putting the motoring public at risk,” News 12 reported Capt. Jeff Yannacone said in a statement. “Officers terminated all attempts to stop Vishal but were able to positively identify him as the driver of the vehicle.”
Yannacone added that “a short time later, (the driver) made several phone calls to the East Rutherford Police Department bragging about being able to elude the officers.”
On Jan. 30, East Rutherford Police Officers located the suspect driving the same Kia near his home. This time, he did not flee, and the police arrested him. Police charged him with third-degree eluding police and 18 other motor vehicle offenses, including reckless driving, speeding across a sidewalk, failure to yield, reckless driving, and failure to possess a driver’s license and insurance.
Bragging to the police about evading them in a chase almost never works out
In 2019, a Florida man called 911 to brag about fleeing a traffic stop, and, like the New Jersey man, he was later arrested. In that case, about an hour after escaping police, the 19-year-old driver of a Hyundai Elantra called and told the 911 dispatcher, “I like ran from a cop like 30 minutes to an hour ago. Like, what do we pay you guys for? Like I’ve driven past four cops.”
The dispatcher tracked his cell phone, and deputies caught him the next day while shopping at a Ross clothing store. The suspect reportedly thought it was funny that he basically ratted himself out.
