5 teens arrested by Paramus police after chase on Garden State Parkway

PARAMUS, NJ – Five teenagers in a stolen car were arrested by Paramus police late Wednesday night after being chased through several North Jersey towns and onto the Garden State Parkway, police said.

Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said that around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, Clifton police notified other police agencies that they were investigating a stolen Kia K500 Stinger.

They said they saw the car near the Hackensack-River Edge border.

Police also said the Kia was accompanied by a Porsche that had been reported stolen an hour earlier in Maywood.

Police said the Kia was seen driving through River Edge, Oradell and into Hawthorne in Passaic County.

According to Guidetti, Hawthorne police briefly attempted to stop the vehicle but lost sight of it.

After 10:30 p.m., Paramus officer Cesar Hurtado saw the Kia heading south from Oradell Avenue onto the Garden State Parkway, police said.

Officer Michael Mordaga attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled.

Police pursued the car from the Parkway to Exit 157 and then onto the southbound ramp of Route 20.

The car then crashed into a concrete divider and stopped, police said.

Officers Michael Cleary and Julia Koenemund, along with other officers, arrested all five teenagers in the Kia, police said.

The driver, a 17-year-old from Belleville, was charged with fleeing, possession of stolen property and aggravated assault with a weapon “for attempting to ram a marked patrol vehicle,” police said. He was taken to a juvenile detention center, police said.

The other passengers – two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old from Passaic and a 16-year-old from Belleville – were charged with driving and released to their guardians.

Paramus and Maywood police are still investigating whether the teens were involved “in similar thefts,” they said.