Newton Police, Billerica K-9 Chase Men After Alleged iPad Theft

NEWTON, MA — After a chase that involved the K-9 unit, several police officers and residents helping police track one of them down, Newton Police arrested two men and charged them with stealing on Sunday. A third person they suspect was also involved in a theft from the Needham Street AT&T is still on the run.

Police say an employee from AT&T called to report a man grabbed an iPad out of his hand and ran out of the store, hopped into a black Dodge Grand Caravan with New York tags parked behind Landry's and started driving toward Route 9.

Police found the van at a stop sign on Walnut Street but wasn't sure if the driver's facial features matched the description of the alleged thief. The officer backed the cruiser up to get a closer look, and saw the van back up fast and then speed away on Walnut Street. The officer found the van tucked near some bushes a little down the road, so the officer tried again.

This time pulled just past the car, parked and asked the the driver to get out of the car. But when the driver didn't get out of the car immediately, the officer opened the driver's door himself and pulled the driver out of the running car, according to the police.

Police said the man said something to police, but redacted his response. They did note that the officer had not told him yet why he was being detained.

As the police officer began handcuffing the man, the van (remember it was still running) started rolling forward and hit the police cruiser's driver side rear door.

A neighbor came over and told police he saw a man had jumped the fence and was running through the yards and had left a jacket in his backyard.

That's when Newton Police called in the Billerica Police and their K-9. Another resident came over and told police that a third man they described as thin and short had run through the yards in another direction.

Several people called to report similar instances of men running through back yards in the area. One of the officers on the scene spotted a man he believed matched the description of one of the two and began chasing him toward the football field and Dedham Street but lost him on Upland Avenue.

A Billerica K-9 officer and their K-9 Yak began a track along with a State trooper, starting from the backyard of a home near the corner of Boylston and Walnut streets where police found one of the men's black jacket. A short time later the trooper radioed they had the suspect detained in a Boylston Street garage. Police kept searching with the help of the K-9 for the third man, but they couldn't find him.

Police arrested Bresean Jojuan-William Winston, 25, of Highland Park Michigan, and Carl Gregory, 19, of Detriot and charged them with Larceny from a person.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch