Jersey driver brings Warwick, Chester police on chase

Teaneck man rams rental car into two police cruisers before crashing in ditch Warwick — Patrolman Shawn Tetzlaff did get his man — eventually. Tetzlaff noticed a Mitsubishi Lancer on Lake Station Road Monday night around 9:30 with a tail light out. He came up behind using his lights to pull over the vehicle, but the driver kept driving, according to Warwick Police Lt. Thomas Maslanka. “He just refused to pull over,” Maslanka said. “He wasn’t going at a high rate of speed, but he wasn’t stopping.” Tetzlaff passed the man after they both turned onto Bellvale Lakes Road and slowed him down further, coming to a complete stop. The driver of the car simply turned his vehicle around and headed in the opposite direction. This happened four times, according to Maslanka, before the driver, Marc S. Guthartz, 36, rammed Tetzlaff’s police car, pushing it into a ditch on Lake Station Road. By then, Tetzlaff already had notified Chester Town Police, who picked up the car heading on Kings Highway toward Sugar Loaf. Chester police also attempted to stop Guthartz, who turned down Jules Drive, a dead-end street. As the officer approached him, he slammed into that car as well and drove off toward Warwick. Warwick police were waiting at Four Corners Road, setting up “stop sticks,” eight to 10 feet long plastic triangles with sharp, hollow quills. These stop sticks, according to Maslanka, slowly reduce the pressure in a car’s tires causing them to go flat. “You don’t go fast or far with these in your tires,” he said. But Guthartz never made it to Four Corners Road. Instead, police said he took a left onto Airport Road, which also has no outlet, and drove into a ditch. Tetzlaff, who had his car pulled out of the ditch on Lake Station Road by a passerby, was there on Airport Road just in time to arrest Guthartz. Police said the car had been rented by Guthartz’s grandmother and was due back to Enterprise Car Rental in late January. Tetzlaff found a crack pipe in the car, Maslanka said. Guthartz told police that he was recently estranged from his wife and that he was just riding around thinking, Maslanka said. The driver was brought to St. Anthony Community Hospital for observation and was later arraigned by Warwick Town Justice Peter Barlet. He is charged with reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, driving while ability impaired, all misdemeanors, and criminal mischief, a felony. In addition, Maslanka said he was charged with at least a dozen traffic violations. Chester had its own charges. The rental car was totaled and damages to the Warwick police car were “extensive.” But no one was injured. Maslanka said they are also awaiting a toxicology report. Guthartz, of Teaneck, N.J., is now in Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.