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Suspect Charged In Early Morning Crash In Canarsie

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect involved in a violent collision while allegedly fleeing police in Brooklyn was taken into custody Friday, police said.

The accident occurred shortly after midnight at Avenue J and East 85th Street in Canarsie.

As CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported, broken bricks, twisted metal and children's toys littered Rosamond Harriott's yard following the violent crash.

"We were smelling gas and I was a little fearful," Harriott told Aiello.

Harriott's worst fears were not realized. There was no explosion and her house was not hit.

But the damage to her yard is extensive and the crash shut down her daycare business on Friday.

"Yes and this is my livelihood, too, and I don't know when this will be cleared up," Harriott said.

Police said it all started at Glenwood Road where officers tried to pull over the driver of a white Chevy Malibu for driving without headlights, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.

"The cops pulled him over on 85th and Glenwood and the guy took off and ran through the light and slammed into the Jeep and the Jeep flipped over," a witness said. "Probably 70, 75 miles [per hour]. And the white car didn't have no lights on neither."

Canarsie Crash
Canarsie Crash (credit: CBS 2)

The car took off and struck a vehicle at Flatlands Avenue before smashing into a Chevy Tahoe at Avenue J, Papa reported.

Several Hurt In Early Morning Crash In Canarsie

The Tahoe flipped over and crashed into Harriott's home, Papa reported. The 27-year-old SUV driver suffered critical injuries.

Canarsie Crash
Damage outside a home in Canarsie following an early morning crash (Credit: Juliet Papa/1010 WINS)

Police said the car being pursued was driven by 22-year-old Roven Saint-Jour.

According to police, Saint-Jour also hit a Honda as he fled.

Some in the densely populated neighborhood were grumbling the cops should have let him go.

"Yeah he could be a bad guy but he didn't pull out no gun and shoot nobody or nothing like that. He was just running away. They should have followed him slowly," a resident told Aiello.

The Fire Department said six people were transported to Brookdale and Kings County hospitals.

The NYPD is adamant it was not in hot pursuit of Saint-Jour, who lives just a block from the crash scene.

Saint-Jour was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and other charges were pending, police said.

Last June, police said he was busted in upstate New York for possession of fake drivers licenses and fake credit cards, Aiello reported.

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