Police from the 106th Precinct were led on a high-speed chase that ended up in Brooklyn and resulted in a car crash that sent 8 people to the hospital for injuries last week.
According to the Queens DA’s office, Chance Deespina, 31, of Brooklyn was driving under the influence of alcohol when he left the scene of a fender bender in Queens and then was observed by police as he ran a red light in the vicinity of 120th Street and Liberty Avenue.
Deespina had sideswiped a vehicle on 106th Street and 109th Avenue sometime around 2 a.m. last Wednesday and sped away. Shortly after that, he was seen running a red light at Liberty Avenue and 120th Street. The officers activated their unmarked vehicle’s lights and sirens and went after the suspect.
But Deespina did not yield to the attempts of the officers to pull him over and instead continued at a very high rate of speed to try and get away. During the pursuit, he ran at least ten steady red lights, drove down a one-way street and reached speeds of more than eighty miles an hour.
The chase ended with Deespina driving his car directly into the side of a 2011 BMW at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Van Siclen Street in Brooklyn.
At the time of his arrest, the defendant had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech and a flushed face.
Two empty Corona bottles were found in the car.
All five passengers in the BMW as well as two police officers and Deespina himself were taken to the hospital for treatment. Deespina refused to submit to a blood test at the hospital.
He is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of first-degree reckless endangerment, one count of third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle and various traffic laws. If convicted he faces up to seven years in prison.
