CRESSKILL — A routine traffic stop turned into a motorcycle chase and then a manhunt through backyards until police found their suspect hiding in a garage.
Police from several departments had a Cresskill garage surrounded when Dean Woodfrinch, 22, of Hackensack came running out, Cresskill police officer Charles Franke said.
Woodfrinch knocked down a Dumont officer before several other cops tackled and handcuffed the suspect, Franke said.
Riding a black motorcycle, Woodfrinch was headed west on Columbus Avenue toward Knickerbocker Road after Tenafly police tried to stop him Aug. 1. He was later found stopped on the side of Knickerbocker Road near the Merritt Memorial Monument.
Franke said that he and Patrolman Seth Grubecki got within 30 feet when Woodfrinch, who appeared to be fixing his bike, hopped on and took off again.
The motorcycle charged at Franke’s vehicle, nearly striking it. Woodfrinch then made a sharp right and headed east on Pershing Place, the police officer said.
Police followed Woodfrinch to 10th Street, where the motorist dumped the bike and bolted through backyards, Franke said.
Police briefly lost track of him, but a 6th Street resident reported seeing the motorist break into a garage. By then, officers from Demarest, Haworth, Dumont, Closter, Bergenfield, Alpine and the Bergen County Police Department had joined their Cresskill and Tenafly counterparts.
The Dumont officer suffered a separated shoulder in the ensuing fracas. He was taken to Englewood Medical Center, Franke said.
Woodfrinch, meanwhile, is being held on $100,000 bail at the Bergen County Jail. He faces charges of eluding, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on a police officer and burglary, along with 15 traffic violations.
E-mail: gonzalezso@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6711
