A driver was charged with reckless endangerment Friday after a police chase that began in Sullivan County ended in a crash on the ramp to an Orange County freeway.
New York State Police said officers at the Wurtsboro barracks responded shortly before noon Friday to a report that a gray convertible was traveling at too low a speed and not staying in its lane on Route 209 in the town of Mamakating.
A police officer spotted the vehicle, a 2011 Mercedes Benz convertible, traveling south on Route 209 and observed it veer into oncoming traffic and then back into the southbound lane.
A police officer stopped the convertible, and while speaking with the driver, Martin Gjurashaj, 45, of Yonkers, Gjurashaj put the car in gear and fled the scene.
According to police, the vehicle was traveling eastbound on Route 17 at a high rate of speed. When it entered the town of Monroe, the vehicle struck a marked state police patrol vehicle on Route 17 and continued eastbound.
The chase continued until it ended at the ramp to the northbound expressway when the Mercedes collided with an uninvolved vehicle.
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Gjurashaj and a passenger in the car were both taken to Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown for treatment of minor injuries.
Gjurashaj was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment (a felony), unlawful flight from a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle, driving under the influence, second-degree obstruction of public order and fourth-degree malicious damage to property (all misdemeanors). He was taken to the Sullivan County Jail pending further legal action.
Information about his bail and the name of his attorney were not immediately available.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at [email protected].
