2 Men Sentenced For Fleeing Union County Police During Drug Bust

LINDEN, NJ — Two New York City-area men were sentenced to a combined years in state prison in connection with a drug investigation, where they fled police in an SUV filled with cocaine before crashing into a tree at a Union County park in 2016, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan announced Monday.

Angel Ernesto Cesar of Yonkers, New York was sentenced to 24 years and Ariel Jazmin of the Washington Heights section of Manhattan was sentenced to 16 years Friday. The two were 25 and 27, respectively, at the time of their arrests.

Authorities went to the area of Alberta Avenue in Linden at around 11 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2016 where Cesar and Jazmin were found in a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, according to a drug investigation by Union County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force and Linden Police.

When detectives tried to initiate a traffic stop, Cesar sped away at a high rate of speed, steering around several police vehicles and continuing onto a sidewalk and back onto the street, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Jeremiah Lenihan, who prosecuted the case.

The SUV then went into nearby Warinanco Park in Roselle, where it crashed with a tree. Cesar was arrested at the scene of the accident, and Jazmin was apprehended following a brief foot pursuit, according to Lenihan.

About one kilogram of cocaine was recovered at the scene, along with packaged materials made to appear to be additional narcotics, according to the report.

Cesar and Jazmin were convicted in April 2018 of first-degree possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and two related third-degree drug offenses.

Cesar was additionally convicted of a count of second-degree eluding police, while Jazmin was also convicted on a charge of fourth-degree resisting arrest.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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