Court papers filed reveal new details on Wednesday’s police chase and crash that started in Middletown Township and ended in Bristol Township.
On Wednesday at 10:17 a.m., an officer was parked on Woodbourne Road in the area of Twin Oak Entry when a blue Dodge SUV with expired stickers drove past. The officer followed the vehicle and attempted to stop it in the area of the Woodbourne Plaza shopping center. The Dodge SUV’s license plate came back as stolen out of Philadelphia, police said.
Advertisements
The SUV did not stop and fled at a high rate of speed. It ended up striking two separate vehicles between the intersections of Woodbourne Road and Bristol-Oxford Valley and Trenton roads, police said.
The two struck vehicles suffered heavy damage, but no serious injuries were reported, police said.
The SUV then traveled through the Park Plaza shopping center where it struck a police vehicle as it fled through the busy parking lot, police said.
Advertisements
One bystander told police he had to move out of the way as the SUV sped through the shopping center.
The SUV left the shopping center parking lot by driving over two curbs and a median onto Wistar Road. It then went from Middletown Township into Bristol Township, police said.
Advertisements
The SUV traveled 65 mph on Wistar Road with a flat tire and heavy damage to the vehicle, while crossing into the opposite lane of travel and passing another motorist, police said.
In the 200 block of Wistar Road, the SUV drove into a yard and struck two trees, police said.
The driver of the SUV – identified as Anthony Michael Mason, 26, Langhorne – jumped out of the crashed vehicle and ran through yards on Parkway Drive, police said.
Credit: Steve Lawler
Advertisements
Mason ran across a covered in-ground swimming pool and ripped the cover, falling into the pool, police said.
Mason was removed from the pool, but immediately began fighting cops and trying to again run, police said.
Advertisements
Mason was hit with a Taser three times, and Middletown Township and Bristol Township officers placed him into custody, police said.
Mason was hauled before Senior District Judge Joanne Kline on 24 charges, including fleeing an attempting to elude an officer, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, receiving stolen property, defiant trespassing, reckless driving, driving at an unsafe speed, and more. He was sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $50,000, which was lowered to 10 percent of $25,000 on Friday.
Advertisements
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
