Secaucus Police Chase Stolen Car Suspect Through Town

SECAUCUS, NJ — A wild police car chase started at Cedar Lane and Paterson Plank Road Sunday morning, continued past Immaculate Conception Church and resulted in a Hudson County Sheriff's office being nearly hit by the getaway car.

The incident started at 11:25 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, Secaucus police said. Police officer Vince DeFazio observed a suspicious vehicle in the area of Cedar Lane and Paterson Plank Road. He ran the plates and the 2016 Nissan Murano came back as stolen. It was later discovered that the vehicle had been stolen from a residential driveway in West New York earlier Sunday morning, police said.

While awaiting additional officers, Officer DeFazio continued to follow the Nissan Murano. He tried to pull the car over, but the driver, later identified as Richard J. Murphy, 27, of West New York, began to drive recklessly. Murphy drove the wrong way on one-way streets in Secaucus and drove along the sidewalks at certain points and struck several parked and moving vehicles. That's a photo of Murphy above, provided by Secaucus police.

Murphy drove the stolen vehicle at a Hudson County Sheriff’s officer who was not involved in the pursuit, but directing traffic in the area of Immaculate Conception Church. The Sheriff’s officer had to jump out of the way of the stolen vehicle’s path to avoid being struck and the officer landed on top another vehicle passing by, police said.

The pursuit continued into North Bergen where police said a “boxing in” technique was attempted since the stolen vehicle was now driving at slow speeds. However, Murphy made it around the police vehicles and the pursuit continued onto Bergen Turnpike in North Bergen. Once on Bergen Turnpike, Murphy again drove onto the sidewalk, where he struck a fence, building, parking meter and a parked vehicle. The Nissan now appeared badly damaged and almost inoperable. However, Murphy then accelerated at full throttle and deliberately struck the driver side door of a marked Secaucus police car just before the officer got out. At this point the pursuit was terminated and Richard J. Murphy was taken into custody.

Two Secaucus police vehicles were involved in motor vehicle crashes during the pursuit, and three Secaucus police officers suffered minor injuries as a result of the crashes. However, no member of the public was injured.

Richard J. Murphy was charged with burglary, receiving stolen property, eluding and two counts of aggravated assault along with numerous motor vehicle violations. He was taken to the Hudson County Jail. Suspect photo released by Secaucus police.