Colonie police: Schenectady man leads police on multiple pursuits in truck stolen from Rotterdam

PHOTOGRAPHER: Shutterstock Image

Tyrone B. Taylor

COLONIE — A Schenectady man led police on multiple pursuits Monday before finally crashing into two Colonie police cars and a utility pole, Colonie police said.

Along the way, police in Colonie, Schenectady and Albany, and then Colonie again, gave chase. The suspect’s erratic driving led the earlier pursuits to be called off before the final chase ended in the crash more than two hours after police first spotted the suspect, police said.

Two civilians and one officer suffered minor injuries in the incident and required treatment at local hospitals, police said.

Charged in the Monday incidents was Tyrone B. Taylor, 20, of Schenectady. He faces three felonies — two counts of third-degree criminal mischief and one count of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He also faces multiple misdemeanors and traffic infractions, police said.

The incident began at around 3:30 p.m. Monday at Colonie Center. Callers reported seeing a man in a mask entering unlocked vehicles in the mall parking lot. Officers arrived and spotted the suspect get into a pickup truck and drive away, police said.

Police discovered the truck was reported stolen two days earlier in Rotterdam.

The officers, with their lights and sirens on, attempted to stop the truck, but the driver fled west on Central Avenue, police said.

The truck struck four cars between Colonie Center, Central Avenue and Vly Road, police said. Each crash caused minor damage. The officers ended their pursuit as Taylor picked up speed and became more erratic, they said, but they kept visual contact on him and encountered him a second time stopped in traffic on Albany Street, where he struck a Colonie police car. The damage was minor. Taylor then continued on into Schenectady.

Colonie officers finally lost sight of him in the area of McClellan Street and Brandywine Avenue in Schenectady, police said.

Schenectady officers soon after spotted Taylor, who fled again. They last saw Taylor on Interstate 90 near the Guilderland rest area at 4:25 p.m., police said.

Albany police picked up their chase just over an hour later as they spotted Taylor on Central Avenue at 5:36 p.m. He sped off recklessly again and Albany officers ended their chase, they said.

Colonie officers again spotted Taylor as he entered the town and tried to stop him, but again his reckless driving forced them to stop pursuit, police said.

Finally, Taylor came upon stopped traffic at Central Avenue and Fuller Road, where he struck a police car, a civilian car and another police car before he hit a utility pole, police said.

Even then, Taylor got out and attempted to flee on foot and resist arrest, police said. Officers had him in custody at 5:45 p.m.

Further charges against Taylor are possible, police said.