A routine traffic stop on Troy's 105th Street turned into a brief police pursuit and a violent crash Friday night, October 2, leaving three adult men with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The car came to rest in an alley between 3rd and 4th avenues after slamming into a fence and a tree, and police say illegal narcotics turned up at the scene.
Stop, Flee, Crash
The chain of events started around 9 p.m. when a Troy police officer attempted to stop a vehicle on 105th Street near 2nd Avenue, according to the Times Union. Instead of pulling over, the driver took off, prompting the officer to follow. As Newport Dispatch reported, the pursuit carried the vehicle to 112th Street near 5th Avenue, where a patrol supervisor ordered it ended.
Per WNYT, the officer then turned off emergency lights and siren and lost sight of the car entirely. About a minute later, the same officer came upon a single-vehicle crash in an alley between 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue, and between 114th and 115th streets — and investigators determined it was the same vehicle from the earlier stop, the station's report notes.
Three Men Pulled From the Wreckage
The vehicle had hit a fence and a tree, and officers found three injured adult men inside, the outlet reported. Troy Fire crews responded to continue treatment and transported all three to a local hospital, where the occupants were found to have serious but non-life-threatening injuries, per the same account.
No officers besides the one treated for a glass cut were hurt, and police said no shots were fired during the incident, according to the Times Union. That officer was treated at a local hospital and released, the station notes.
Narcotics Found, Charges Expected
Detectives and evidence technicians responded to the scene after illegal narcotics were located, WNYT reported in a separate dispatch. Police say criminal charges are expected against the driver and at least one passenger, though the exact charges had not been announced as of the department's statements. The Times Union reports that the department's investigation remains ongoing.
The crash adds to a string of recent Troy incidents tied to fleeing drivers and drug investigations. Just days earlier, on Sept. 30, Troy officers assigned to Project Sentinel stopped a vehicle near 2nd Avenue and 116th Street during a suspected drug investigation, according to CBS6 Albany. That stop led to the recovery of a gun with a defaced serial number, an imitation flare gun, and cocaine, and the individuals involved tried to run before being caught a short time later, the station reported.
In another case detailed by CBS6, a suspect tied to a separate drug and weapon investigation led Troy police on a high-speed chase through South Troy; officers deployed a tire deflation device, and the suspect abandoned the vehicle near Exit 6 of I-787 South before being apprehended in Menands.
Pursuits like Friday night's carry inherent risk. A study of federal crash data from 2015 to 2020 found that at least 30 percent of police pursuits resulted in crashes, with injuries or fatalities occurring in 5 to 17 percent of cases, according to a report from the New York Attorney General's office.
