A high-speed chase through Bergen and Essex counties in a stolen Toyota Highlander ended early Friday the only way a running-on-empty car can: it simply quit. Police say 31-year-old Newark man Mitchell Pillot Jr. was behind the wheel when the SUV sputtered out on the Route 3 eastbound entrance ramp after reaching speeds exceeding 80 mph.
According to Daily Voice, police said Pillot was driving a Toyota Highlander that had been stolen from Clifton the previous day. Authorities said he traveled about 1.5 miles before the SUV finally ran out of gas, bringing the pursuit to an abrupt end on the ramp. Pillot was the vehicle's sole occupant, police said.
The chase reportedly began after police received an automated license plate reader alert identifying the stolen silver Highlander, and officers spotted the SUV traveling west on Kingsland Avenue toward the DeJessa Bridge. The vehicle stopped at a red light on the Nutley side of the bridge, near the Route 21 northbound entrance ramp, the outlet's report states. When the light turned green, Lyndhurst police activated emergency lights and sirens, but instead of pulling over, the driver accelerated onto Route 21.
From Route 21 To An Empty Tank
From there, the SUV exited toward Route 3 at Exit 9, with the pursuit reaching speeds above 80 mph along the way, per the police account relayed by the outlet. The chase came to its anticlimactic conclusion when the Highlander ran out of gas on the Route 3 eastbound entrance ramp, leaving Pillot with nowhere to go.
Police said they found a glass cylinder containing burnt residue, along with material commonly used to ingest drugs, in Pillot's pants pocket. Additional drug paraphernalia was found inside the SUV itself, according to the same account.
Charges And Custody
Pillot was charged with eluding police, receiving a stolen motor vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was lodged in Bergen County Jail following his arrest.
New Jersey has leaned on multi-agency cooperation to combat vehicle theft in recent years. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General notes that its auto-theft task force draws officers from county, state and municipal agencies, and that the task force recovered dozens of stolen vehicles worth millions of dollars combined in 2022. Pursuits themselves are also governed by strict statewide rules: the attorney general's use-of-force policy specifies that agencies may conduct vehicular pursuits only within defined parameters, with supervisors expected to maintain an enhanced level of control given the risks to officers and the public.
High-speed chases involving stolen vehicles are not unique to North Jersey. In Pennsylvania, a Lackawanna County man led state troopers on a chase on Route 22 that reportedly reached speeds over 120 mph, according to lehighvalleylive.com. That pursuit ended when the driver, identified as Yasin Sharif Kennedy, crashed the stolen Honda Accord into a wooded area and was later charged with felony eluding, theft and receiving stolen property, along with 35 summary traffic offenses.
