CLEARFIELD – During colloquy court on Monday, a New Jersey man was sent to state prison for leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle.
Police say Tariq A. Frye, 19, of East Orange, N.J., was first spotted in the vehicle with New Jersey plates going through a stop sign at the intersection of Merrill Street and New Street in Clearfield Borough on Aug. 16 at 10:58 a.m.
Even though he didn’t stop, when he almost hit the marked police car head-on, the driver honked the horn at the officer.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the officer turned around and saw the vehicle which was traveling at “a high rate of speed” become partially airborne when crossing the railroad tracks on Williams Street. He tried to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle did not stop.
Additional officers were dispatched to the area, one of them was flagged down by a witness near the River Road and West Front Street intersection.
This man asked if the officer was looking for a white car which he had just seen “flying” down River Road and passing vehicles in the opposite lane of travel.
During the chase, the vehicle had been identified as being stolen from New Jersey.
As one of the officers followed the vehicle on U.S. Route 322, it was traveling at 89 miles per hour and accelerated up to 120 mph.
When the driver, later identified as Frye, attempted to turn onto the on-ramp of Interstate 80, westbound, the he failed to navigate the curve and traveled straight, leaving the roadway, going through the grass median then over the Route 322 eastbound exit and over the Route 322 westbound exit, both in a perpendicular manner before striking the guiderail along the Route 322 westbound exit. It bounced off, spinning at 180 degrees and then came to rest in the middle of the roadway.
At this point, the driver exited the vehicle and ran, jumping over the guiderail down into the woods toward old state Route 153.
Numerous other officers from Clearfield Regional Police, state police, Sandy Township police, DuBois City police and Curwensville Borough police set up a perimeter.
Air support also came from state police, and K-9 units were on the scene to track him. UTV, ATVs and trucks from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources also joined in the hunt for Frye.
He was located near a storage building in the woods, off old SR 153, north of the camping area and taken into custody at 12:59 a.m.
Frye pleaded guilty to felony fleeing or attempting to elude officers and receiving stolen property before Judge Paul Cherry on Monday.
His attorney, Jendi Schwab, asked Cherry to go against the recommendation of the probation department, and give him a county sentence because he has already served 96 days in the county jail. She felt that by the time he got processed in state prison, he would serve more than his minimum time.
She added that he has pending cases in New Jersey, which she felt would also keep him in prison for up to the maximum term of his sentence.
After considering this, Cherry sentenced him to serve six months to three years in state prison, noting noted that a “lesser sentence would negate the seriousness of this case.”