SPOKE WITH PEOPLE AT THAT CHAOTIC SCENE. WELL, THAT MAN, HE WAS FILLING UP HIS RANGE ROVER AT THIS PUMP YESTERDAY. POLICE SAY THE SUSPECT PULLED UP TO THE PUMP RIGHT NEXT TO HIM. MOMENTS LATER, THEY SAY THE SUSPECT GOT INTO THE VICTIM’S CAR AND DRAGGED HIM AS HE TOOK OFF. VERY, VERY WILD. THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN IN THIS TOWN. THE BRAZEN CARJACKING UNFOLDED AS THE VICTIM WAS PUMPING GAS AT THIS SHELL STATION, JUST ABOUT A BLOCK FROM THE ONRAMP TO I-95. WHEN I WAS BACKING OUT. AND THAT’S WHEN WE NOTICED OUR FRIEND ON THE GROUND. MICHAEL LEONARD JUST HAPPENED TO ALSO BE THERE AROUND 630 LAST NIGHT. A GUY PULLED IN, JUMPED OUT OF HIS CAR, JUMPED INTO MY FRIEND’S CAR, AND MY FRIEND THOUGHT IT WAS SOME SORT OF PRANK. SO HE GRABBED ON TO THE VEHICLE TO STOP IT. AND THIS GUY DRAGGED HIM ABOUT 2020 FIVE FEET. POLICE SAY THE 32 YEAR OLD SUSPECT PULLED UP TO A NEARBY PUMP IN A STOLEN CAR OUT OF MAINE AND JUMPED INTO THE VICTIM’S RANGE ROVER, TAKING OFF TOWARD THE HIGHWAY. I’M JUST LIKE BRUCE. YOU’RE RIGHT, YOU KNOW, MAKE SURE HE WAS OKAY. HE WAS COHERENT. THE VICTIM’S FRIEND AND NEARBY WORKERS SAY HE WAS ON THE GROUND IN PAIN AFTER THE DANGEROUS GETAWAY. HE WAS JUST KIND OF LAYING ON THE GROUND. SOMEBODY WAS HOLDING HIS HEAD. ALL I COULD SEE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF BLOOD COMING OUT OF THE BACK OF HIS HEAD. AND THEN HE WAS LOOKING FOR HIS PHONE, BECAUSE LITERALLY WHILE WE WERE THERE, HE WAS TRACKING THE GUY ON HIS PHONE, AND HE’S IN WOBURN. THAT TRACKING PROVED CRITICAL IN FOLLOWING THE STOLEN SUV THROUGH MULTIPLE STATES. UPDATE ON THE VEHICLE. IT SOUNDS LIKE IT’S SOUTHBOUND I-95. PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND POLICE SAY THEY ARRESTED THE SUSPECT HOURS LATER AFTER HE MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO NEW JERSEY. THE 49 YEAR OLD VICTIM WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL, BUT IS EXPECTED TO RECOVER. GOD BLESS HIM. THANK GOD HE’S OKAY. I’M GLAD THEY GOT THE GUY. I MEAN, WHAT ELSE CAN YOU ASK FOR, RIGHT? POLICE SAY THAT SUSPECT WHO WAS ARRESTED IN NEW JERSEY IS FROM MAINE. HE IS NOW FACING MUL
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Suspect in theft of SUV from Mass. gas station struggled with NJ police, officials say
New Jersey officials on Monday identified a man from Maine who was arrested in that state in connection with a vehicle carjacked from Massachusetts over the weekend.Dustin Zimmerman, 32, of Livermore Falls, Maine, faces numerous charges in New Jersey after police said he attempted to evade officers in the stolen Range Rover. Zimmerman is accused of taking the Range Rover from a customer who was pumping gas at a gas station on Main Street in Reading at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. According to Reading police, the customer was outside of the SUV when the suspect pulled up to another pump in a Chevrolet Malibu that had previously been reported stolen in Maine.The suspect then entered the driver's seat of the Range Rover and pulled away from the pump, making a U-turn in the station parking lot, striking and partially running over the owner of the SUV before fleeing the parking lot.The owner of the Range Rover, identified as a 49-year-old Reading man, held onto the side-view mirror of the SUV as the suspect was fleeing the parking lot and was dragged approximately 20 feet. He was transported by ambulance to Lahey Hospital for treatment.At 11:31 p.m., a patrolman with the Robbinsville Township Police Department spotted the Range Rover making a left turn through a red light in that New Jersey community. According to police, the patrolman pulled the vehicle over, but the driver, later identified as Zimmerman, refused to provide identification and drove away after hearing the officer call for backup. When Zimmerman drove off the roadway and into a field, the SUV came to a stop and he struggled with officers who worked to make the arrest. "While taking the suspect into custody, the suspect became extremely irate and began kicking and head-butting officers. RTPD officers attempted to gain control of the suspect by using compliance holds, however he continued fighting and ultimately was sprayed with oleoresin capsicum, at which time he began to comply with the officer’s commands," police wrote. Zimmerman's charges in New Jersey include reckless driving, driving without a license, eluding, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
READING, Mass. —
New Jersey officials on Monday identified a man from Maine who was arrested in that state in connection with a vehicle carjacked from Massachusetts over the weekend.
Dustin Zimmerman, 32, of Livermore Falls, Maine, faces numerous charges in New Jersey after police said he attempted to evade officers in the stolen Range Rover.
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Zimmerman is accused of taking the Range Rover from a customer who was pumping gas at a gas station on Main Street in Reading at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. According to Reading police, the customer was outside of the SUV when the suspect pulled up to another pump in a Chevrolet Malibu that had previously been reported stolen in Maine.
The suspect then entered the driver's seat of the Range Rover and pulled away from the pump, making a U-turn in the station parking lot, striking and partially running over the owner of the SUV before fleeing the parking lot.
The owner of the Range Rover, identified as a 49-year-old Reading man, held onto the side-view mirror of the SUV as the suspect was fleeing the parking lot and was dragged approximately 20 feet. He was transported by ambulance to Lahey Hospital for treatment.
At 11:31 p.m., a patrolman with the Robbinsville Township Police Department spotted the Range Rover making a left turn through a red light in that New Jersey community. According to police, the patrolman pulled the vehicle over, but the driver, later identified as Zimmerman, refused to provide identification and drove away after hearing the officer call for backup.
When Zimmerman drove off the roadway and into a field, the SUV came to a stop and he struggled with officers who worked to make the arrest.
"While taking the suspect into custody, the suspect became extremely irate and began kicking and head-butting officers. RTPD officers attempted to gain control of the suspect by using compliance holds, however he continued fighting and ultimately was sprayed with oleoresin capsicum, at which time he began to comply with the officer’s commands," police wrote.
Zimmerman's charges in New Jersey include reckless driving, driving without a license, eluding, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
