A city man walked away from a crash that split the stolen car he was driving in two.
Tommy M. Rogers, 29, of Manchester, was arrested by New Hampshire State Police after he allegedly crashed a vehicle in Massachusetts that he allegedly stole from Manchester.
He was charged as a fugitive from justice and faces a felony level receiving stolen property charge.
According to a police narrative of events leading up to the arrest, just after 10 p.m. Trooper Jack DeJesus of NH State Police Troop B attempted to stop a 1994 blue Honda Accord heading southbound on Interstate 93 in Salem at the Massachusetts state line. The Honda, registered in Massachusetts, had just been put out in a broadcast as a stolen vehicle and that the driver, later identified as Rogers, had just fled authorities in Manchester.
DeJesus signaled for Rogers to pull over using his emergency lights as the Honda crossed the Massachusetts state line. Rogers pulled over into the breakdown lane for a brief moment and then took off.
DeJesus pursued the the Honda south on Interstate 93, then east onto Route 213 and then onto Pleasant Valley Street in Methuen, Mass., where the vehicle crashed into a utility pole near Oak Street, splitting the vehicle in half.
Rogers and a female passenger were not injured and fled on foot.
Officers from the Methuen Police Department as well as Troopers from the Massachusetts State Police immediately responded to the area and assisted with the pursuit. Rogers ran into a nearby McDonald’s where he was arrested. The woman, also hiding out in the McDonald’s, was identified, interviewed and was then released without charges.
Rogers will be arraigned in the Lawrence, Mass., District Court on Sept. 3, 2014 at 8 a.m.
The vehicle was destroyed and had to be removed by two tow trucks. A utility pole was also damaged as a result of the crash.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Trooper DeJesus at Troop B in Bedford at 603-666-3333.