Wrong-Way Route 70 Driver Fleeing Interrupted Burglary Crashes, Tries To Steal Police Car

BRICK, NJ — Two men suspected in vehicle thefts and burglaries outside gyms across New Jersey were arrested Thursday following a wild wrong-way ride through Brick Township after an off-duty officer leaving LA Fitness interrupted a vehicle burglary in the gym’s parking lot, Brick police said Friday.

Andrew D. Williams, 42, and Louis Candelario, 49, both of Brooklyn, are being held in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River and are facing multiple charges following the incident that ended with a crash at the intersection of Burnt Tavern Road and Maple Avenue, Brick Sgt. Jim Kelly said.

Williams was one of two men named in November as suspects in a pair of burglaries at LA Fitness.

It started about 2 p.m. Thursday when Officer Kevin Ryan was leaving the gym at LA Fitness in Brick Plaza after working out, Kelly said.

Ryan, who was off-duty at the time, heard a vehicle alarm going off in the parking lot that was coming from a tan Chevy pickup truck, and a greenish gray minivan was parked next to it, Kelly said. The minivan matched the description of one seen at car burglaries all over the state during the past several weeks, Kelly said.

Ryan called the burglary in progress into police headquarters, and Officer John Canterelli, who was the closest patrol unit, arrived in minutes, Kelly said.

As Canterelli’s marked car pulled in, the minivan took off, driving through the Brick Plaza parking lot without regard for people walking through the lot, Kelly said.

Canterelli followed the minivan, which headed into the north side of Lake Riviera on Aurora Place and Bryn Mawr Drive, but halted the chase as the minivan drove dangerously through the neighborhood, he said.

By then several police units were in the area, Kelly said, and kept tabs on the minivan from a distance. The minivan turned left from North Lake Shore Drive onto Brick Boulevard, going north in the southbound lanes against traffic, and from Brick Boulevard wound up going east on the westbound side of Route 70, he said.

Several motorists were run off the road as drivers tried to avoid the minivan, Kelly said. Officers continued to monitor the minivan from a distance, calling out the location and the direction they were driving, until they reached Burnt Tavern Road and Maple Avenue, he said.

There they ran the red light and crashed into a black Audi, which had two people in it. The Audi overturned from the impact and the minivan was disabled as a result, Kelly said.

Williams, who was driving, jumped out and ran to a vehicle that had stopped because of the crash and tried to pull the driver out, Kelly said, but the woman was wearing her seat belt and he couldn’t get her out. As he tried to pull her out, police officers ran toward him, but Williams ran and tried to steal an unmarked police car, Kelly said.

That’s when Lt. Terrence Covert and Lt. Jay Matthews grabbed him and arrested him.

Candelario, meanwhile, took off running on north on Burnt Tavern Road but Officer John Boronkas caught up with him and arrested him.

Williams was charged with carjacking, burglary, theft, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, attempt to elude in a motor vehicle, obstructing justice, resisting arrest, and dozens of motor vehicle violations. Candelario was charged with burglary, theft, criminal mischief and obstructing justice, Kelly said.

“The victims of Thursday’s carnage are safe and detectives continue to investigate the events as they unfolded,” Kelly said. Additional charges are possible, he said, as the Traffic Safety Unit continues to investigate the crash at Maple Avenue and Burnt Tavern Road.

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