Police: Man Went On Violent Crime Spree Before Crashing Carjacked Vehicle In Union County
KENILWORTH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Police in Union Township, New Jersey alleged Wednesday that a man shot a woman, pistol-whipped a hotel manager and carjacked another woman – before finally crashing the stolen car into a store as police pursued him.
Charges of carjacking, weapons offenses and attempted murder were pending late Wednesday against Quadree Frazier, 35, who has addresses in Newark and East Orange, police said.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, Union Township police said it all started around 1:10 p.m. Wednesday, when police were called about a quarrel between a man and a woman at the Clinton Manor Motor Lodge, at 2737 Route 22 West in Union.
The man believed to be Frazier had already left by the time police received the call, but police said they later allegedly learned that the suspect had a quarrel with two women and had shot one of them in the chin or neck.
The suspect also allegedly pistol-whipped the hotel manager in the parking lot, giving him a deep cut that required stitches, police alleged. The manager, Harshad Patel, had stitches on his nose, a fractured thumb, and blood on his shoes late Wednesday.
"(The suspect) created some serious havoc in this area, and in the matter of an hour," said Patel's son, Himansu Patel.
Police said the man then ran across the entire width of Route 22 and had found his way to the parking lot of the Target store at 2690 Route 22 East in Springfield.
At that point, the man approached a woman who had just locked up her car, and told her he needed help due to a hurt leg, police said.
When she looked down at his leg, the man pulled a gun and put the barrel to her head, demanding her car keys, police said. The woman threw the man the keys and ran away, police said.
The carjacking victim was not injured, police said.
"We met her at the hospital," Himansu Patel said. "She was a little shaken up; little bumps and bruises, but she seemed OK."
Police alleged that Frazier then got into the 2010 Lincoln MKZ and drove off east on Route 22, proceeding in what police called a very reckless manner. Union Township Officer Fernando Trejo was monitoring traffic at a nearby Taco Bell, and noticed the reckless vehicle, police said.
Trejo pulled out to stop the car, but before he could, the driver crashed into a pickup truck on Route 22 and kept going anyway, police said. The driver hit another car that was traveling near Michigan Avenue, and finally lost control and crashed into a Jeep parked in the lot of the Halloween store on Route 22 in Kenilworth, police said.
The driver still kept going and finally plowed right into a Halloween store on Route 22 in Kenilworth, police said.
The alleged reckless driver finally got out of the car and was arrested by officers Trejo, Greg Mulholland, and Michael Iannelli, police said.
Meanwhile, the carjacked vehicle that had crashed into the Halloween store caught fire and had to be extinguished, police said. Elsewhere, the gun that the suspect had allegedly used in the carjacking was found under one of the cars that had crashed, police said.
In an incredible coincidence, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park was in the parked Jeep, and was shaken up – but uninjured – by the crash, police said.
Such was not the case for Frazier, police said. He was being held late Wednesday at University Hospital in Newark with broken vertebrae in his neck and back, damaged ribs, and a collapsed lung, police said.
