Fireman’s Circle Statue Toppled by Stolen Car in Rye PD Chase, Suspect At Large
(PHOTO: The stolen 2005 Mercedes Benz.)
You think you live in a sleepy suburban bedroom community.
Nope.
While most Rye residents were sleeping, Rye PD identified a stolen car in the city overnight Thursday. In the ensuing chase, the driver of the stolen car slammed into the Fireman’s Circle statue and fled on foot.
Here are the details:
Around 2:30am Friday, one of Rye PD’s four stationary license plate readers alerted that a 2005 Mercedes Benz stolen out of Norwalk, CT had entered Rye. Police patrol units began canvassing the city for the stolen vehicle.
(PHOTO: The Fireman’s Circle statue was knocked off its pedestal by the stolen Mercedes.)
An officer spotted the vehicle in the area of Milton Road and Oakland Beach Avenue. The vehicle immediately took off at a high rate of speed traveling north on Milton Road.
(PHOTO: The statue being recovered after the crash.)
As Rye PD units attempted to catch up with the vehicle they lost sight of the vehicle temporarily. As officers approached the Fireman’s traffic circle they observed that the vehicle had left the roadway, crashed into the monument and continued over a rock wall into the front yard of a residence.
Rye PD officers ran to the vehicle which was now on fire to check on the occupants, observing one occupant run from the vehicle. An officer pursued the suspect and lost sight of him on Palisade Road. The vehicle was checked for additional occupants and the Rye Fire Department was dispatched for the burning vehicle.
A perimeter was set up with assistance from Port Chester PD, Harrison PD and Westchester County PD in an effort to find the suspect. Harrison PD and Westchester County PD provided K-9 tracking dogs. At this time the suspect is still at large.
“This crime fits a pattern of repeated criminal activity that many jurisdictions in Westchester, Putnam and Fairfield counties have been experiencing,” Lt. Scott J. Craig, Patrol Commander of Rye PD told MyRye.com. “A group of youths from Connecticut enter neighborhoods looking for unlocked cars to steal from, when they find a vehicle with the keys or key fob in the vehicle they also steal the vehicle. Reminder – please lock your vehicles and remove the keys/key fob, these groups continue to come back to our neighborhoods because they are always successful finding cars to steal.”
