Police Capture Driver After Wild Chase Ends In Saugus Shootout
SAUGUS (CBS) – Saugus police captured a man after a wild chase and shootout early Monday morning.
It began just after 2 a.m. in Stoneham, when Stoneham police broke off their pursuit on Route 128 north when the driver of a Toyota Camry hit speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.
State police joined in the search and then, a few minutes later, Saugus police found the car on Route 1 South with a tireless front driver's side rim. Officers say the driver fired a gun at them and drove off.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports
Saugus Police Shooting
"We saw them coming around the corner. There was a car that was on its rims on one of its tires and sparks were shooting up and there were like four cruisers (following it)," one witness told WBZ-TV.
The car ended up on a dead-end street.
"As police approached the defendant's vehicle, he drove toward them and shots were fired," according to Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokesperson for the Essex Distrrict Attorney's Office.
The driver, later identified as Jonathan Colleran, 31, of Stoneham, was taken to a Boston hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound and released.
"I was scared to death because I didn't know what was happening," witness Geraldine Wojciechowski told WBZ-TV and WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
"All we heard was sirens, sirens and the next thing you know, we heard like three shots (in succession) and then there was a period of time and then we, pretty sure we heard one more."
Kimball Monahan said a 33-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Camry was taken to an area hospital, treated and released.
"Currently there are no charges against her," Kimball Monahan said.
Police say they initially wanted to pull Colleran over for erratic driving.
Colleran was arraigned Monday afternoon in Lynn District Court. Judge Mary McCabe revoked his bail in four open cases, which will hold him without bail for up to 60 days, and set personal recognizance in the case.
He's charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, operating to endanger, speeding, failure to stop for police, failure to stop-yield, marked lanes violation, and having an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle.
Colleran has already served prison time for Oxycontin trafficking in 2005. He was also once charged with attacking a police officer with a knife outside of a Boston nightclub.
Colleran will be back in court on October 2 for a pretrial hearing.
