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WILKES-BARRE — A 20-year-old Larksville man initiated a pursuit through two municipalities and crashed into a city police cruiser before being arrested during a foot chase early Saturday morning.
Darnell Justice Phelps, of East State Street, was apprehended at gunpoint when he was unsuccessful at jumping over a fence in the 100 block of Dagobert Street at about 12:30 a.m., according to court records.
Phelps initiated a several mile dangerous pursuit on icy roads that began on Lee Park Avenue in Hanover Township, court records say.
According to the criminal complaint:
A city police officer in the area of Horton and Barney streets initiated a traffic stop of a Hyundai due to a broke license plate light and excessive tinted windows at about 12:12 a.m.
The driver, identified as Phelps, crossed Division Street and onto Lee Park Avenue in Hanover Township where he stopped.
When an officer learned Phelps was wanted on an arrest warrant charging him with firearm offenses, he sped away at a high rate of speed.
Phelps turned onto East Saint Marys Road, South Main Street to Regent Street and crossed Division Street back into Wilkes-Barre driving the wrong direction on a one-way South Regent Street, the complaint says.
Phelps turned onto several more streets before returning to Barney Street and back into Hanover Township on Lee Park Avenue, passing through a stop sign at East Saint Marys Road and turning onto Colonels Road, then King’s Road and turning onto Sans Souci Parkway toward Wilkes-Barre, according to the complaint.
Police in the complaint say Phelps turned onto Willow Street, Gordon Avenue and then Reliance Drive where he entered a cul-de-sac.
Phelps allegedly jumped a curb driving through a home’s front yard and struck a cruiser driven by a city police officer.
Police say Phelps jumped out of the moving Hyundai that struck a fence in the area of 190 Dagobert Street.
Officers chased Phelps and arrested him in the area of 142 Dagobert St. when he failed to jump a fence, the complaint says.
Police allege a fanny-pack inside the Hyundai contained a 31 round magazine loaded with 17 rounds. A 9mm handgun was recovered from the area where Phelps was arrested, according to the complaint.
Phelps was arraigned by District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz in Pittston on charges of illegal possession of a firearm, aggravated assault, firearms not to be carried without a license, flight to avoid apprehension, fleeing or attempting to elude police, resisting, arrest, reckless endangerment, accidents involving damage to attended vehicle, criminal mischief, and numerous traffic violations. He was jailed without bail at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.