Gloucester City wants answers from Deptford on weekend police chase

GLOUCESTER CITY — Police here are pressing their Deptford Township counterparts to explain why they did not get advanced warning that a pursuit of a stolen car was headed into their city on Saturday.

The chase ended with the stolen car smashing into another vehicle that a police complaint states held two children and two adults, all of whom were injured. The impact caused the second vehicle to strike a house near Morris and North Fillmore streets.

Gloucester City Police Chief Brian Morrell said Deptford Police will not talk to them.

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“We have reached out,” Morrell told the Courier-Post on Wednesday. “My second-in-command has reached out to Deptford, unsuccessfully. So, I’m not sure what the issue is and why they’re not responding to anyone, really. I know they’re not responding to reporters and certainly not responding to us.”

A message left for the department was not returned, and Deptford police have not issued any statement.

Contacted Wednesday, the township's Mayor Paul Medany said he had been unaware of the incident.

Gloucester City police ended up capturing the stolen car driver, identified as 32-year-old Joshua E. Chrismon of the 6100 block of Stark Way in Mount Laurel, as he was fleeing the crash scene. Chrismon was charged and then given to Deptford police, Morrell said.

Chrismon faces 16 charges, including four each of reckless endangerment and assault by auto. He was jailed pending a court hearing.

“None of the (bystander) parties involved had any connection to Gloucester,” Morrell said. “They happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And this gentleman, from what we can see, has no connection to Gloucester City. He just happened to come through.”

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Morrell said police pursuing someone are required to radio ahead to police in another jurisdiction if they think they may enter that community. A dispatcher-to-dispatcher call would have been the option in this case, he said.

Instead, Morrell said, his department only learned Deptford officers were involved in a chase after the cruiser and stolen car were well inside the city. The crash happened about a block off Broadway, and the chase probably had gone through Westville and Brooklawn.

“Our officers, they respond out to the location that the (city) dispatcher gives them and there’s no one there,” Morrell said. “Within a minute, they’re notified that the crash happens.”

Morrell said a resident has provided a Ring camera video that offered some detail of the scene. One question is whether the Deptford officer had lost contact with the stolen car or was lagging far behind but with visual contact, he said.

“It’s hard to tell where they’re at, because of the angle of the camera,” Morrell said.

An arrest complaint affidavit states both vehicles were disabled by the impact, with their airbags deploying. Two children and at least one adult needed hospital treatment but afterward were discharged, police reported.

Morrell said all police pursuits must go through an internal review and must be forwarded to a county prosecutor if anything appears improper. In this case, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office would be notified.

“The nature of it, with the accident and injuries, and, you know, third party (injuries)?” Morrell said. “It sounds like it’s going to be scrutinized.”

The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office is aware of the chase and outcome. Chief of Detectives Tom Gilbert said Wednesday that the incident is under internal review at the Deptford Police Department.

A spokesman from The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said on Wednesday that police have chase policies to follow but the office had no comment on this case.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Gloucester City wants answers from Deptford on weekend police chase