High Speed Chase in Toms River Travels Over Bridge to Barrier Island, Then Back

An attempt to stop a suspicious vehicle led to a high-speed chase from Route 37 in Toms River to Ortley Beach, and then back to East Dover, police said.

A man fled an attempted traffic stop just before 11:40 p.m., driving his pick-up truck through Toms River’s mainland and barrier island, before ducking out of his vehicle on Vaughn Avenue and running into a backyard, said Chief Michael Mastronardy.

At 12:15 a.m., the police chief said the man had just been apprehended and his name was not released.

Mastronardy said the driver of the pick-up truck fled north on Route 35 to 3rd Street in Ortley Beach, before heading south and then back over the Seaside bridge in Toms River.

“This started on the mainland, went onto the barrier island and came back onto the mainland,” he said.

The chase was east over the Seaside bridge, with its ongoing lane closures for reconstruction, then north into Ortley Beach before heading west over the Seaside bridge, up Hooper Avenue into Cedar Grove, driving through East Dover before coming to an end on Vaughn's westernmost portion after the intersection with Verdant Road.

The chase took three Toms River Police vehicles through such streets as Route 37, Hooper Avenue, Cedar Grove and Vaughn Avenue in Toms River, said the police chief. Additional personnel responded to Vaughn and Wake Forest Drive, at the far west section of the road in a residential neighborhood.

The driver stopped near the end of Vaughn, and ran from his vehicle into a backyard, where police apprehended the man, said Mastronardy.

It was a more than ten-minute car chase, but there were few traffic issues or concerns for public safety. There was no damage to property and no roads were closed, he said.

“Traffic was light at the time,” Mastronardy said. “We were able to pursue this this well due to the efforts of our dispatch, patrol officers working together.”

At 12:30 a.m., the Wake Forest and Vaughn area was still lit by the flashing lights of patrol cars in the residential neighborhood as the investigation continued.

Police did not immediately release information on the cause of the attempted traffic stop.