Litters (with cocaine) as he flees in car, cops say

Friday, October 30, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City man who police say led them on a wild car chase as he poured suspected cocaine out his car window faces numerous charges, including littering.

Mark Middleton, 41, of Bayview Avenue, was arrested at Gates and Princeton avenues, where he lost control of the vehicle, and was charged with eluding police, resisting arrest, obstructing a government function and drug offenses, including possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, officials said.

At 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, officers tried to pull over Middleton's Lexus on Merritt Street because it had no inspection sticker, but he hit the gas and took off, emptying a bag of white powder as he went, reports said.

Police pursued the Lexus into Bayonne and back to Jersey City, where the chase was called off when Middleton sped the wrong way down Gates Avenue through oncoming traffic, reports said.

With Middleton only 50 feet away, the officers turned off their flashing lights to break off the pursuit, but Middleton tried to turn onto Seaview Avenue and skidded onto the curb, reports said. Middleton jumped out and ran, dropping empty vials of the type used to package drugs before being handcuffed after a struggle, reports said.

Police found the plastic bag inside the car and it still contained some of the suspected cocaine, reports said.

Middleton was issued summonses for having no inspection sticker, careless driving, reckless driving, improper passing, going the wrong way on a one-way street, abandoning a motor vehicle, unsafe operation, having drugs in a motor vehicle, littering, and two counts of failing to observe a traffic signal, reports said.