MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - Five people were arrested in Medford Thursday after allegedly leading police on a chase and crashing a car into a fence in a residential neighborhood, police said.
Police did not identify the people they arrested but said they first responded around 11 a.m. after an employee at the DICK’s Sporting Goods store in the Meadow Glen plaza reported a shoplifting incident.
Medford police said the employee told officials the suspects fled in a vehicle toward Riverside Avenue.
Dispatchers soon linked the vehicle’s license plate to a vehicle that was reported stolen from Belmont, according to police.
While on their way to the DICK’s store, police said, officers spotted the allegedly stolen vehicle on Riverside Avenue and tried to conduct a traffic stop. The vehicle did not stop, according to police, and instead sped away.
Medford police said officers continued to chase the vehicle until it crashed on Alto Drive.
“They came up the driveway and the car just smashed right through the fence and just crashed into it,” said Suzanne Sarno, who owns the house where the crash happened.
Officers detained two people inside the vehicle and eventually arrested three additional people after they tried to flee the scene.
One neighbor said he saw one of the people running through his backyard and down his driveway after he had to climb a steep hill behind the spot where the car finally stopped.
“They ran fast,” Sarno said. “They were booking it. They were trying to just really get away.”
Police said there were no reported injuries. Though five people were arrested, police said specific charges were still pending as of Thursday afternoon.
A 7NEWS camera spotted crews searching in Medford near 12 p.m.
A state police helicopter was spotted overhead and a police K9 unit was seen working in the area. Law enforcement officials were also seen going through the car that crashed and removing items including a phone, a bundle of clothes, and a lock of hair.
Crews towed the car away from the area shortly after 12 p.m.
Though the car was gone, the crash left damage behind, including a broken fence and debris scattered across Sarno’s yard. Sarno said the crash also damaged her garden, ruining her crop of tomatoes for the summer.
“It’s just too bad because it was disruptive,” she said. “And it’s more scary like, what is somebody was there? What if something happened?
Though the crash caused damage, the car missed both Sarno’s house and a car in a neighboring driveway.
Sarno said she was feeling grateful the situation was not worse.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m lucky in other respects,” she said.
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