A dramatic car chase through Queens Wednesday night ended with a getaway car slamming into a Whitestone home and two suspected robbers in handcuffs, police said.
The trouble began at about 7:45 p.m. at a cellphone store in Flushing.
According to authorities, three men entered the Verizon store at 191-30 Northern Blvd. while wearing masks and simulating a firearm, and announced they were robbing the place.
The suspects then fled without taking anything, with one escaping on foot and the other two getting away in a van.
Police were able to spot the van near the Cross Island Parkway and Willets Point Boulevard a short time later and a chase reportedly ensued. As the cops went after the suspects, the van struck two parked cars before crashing into a nearby home on Willets Point Boulevard.
One suspect, 20-year-old Xavier Oneal of Brooklyn, was arrested at the scene. The van’s other occupant, 38-year-old Andrew Taylor, also of Brooklyn, was nabbed not far from the scene at Utopia Parkway and 17th Road after fleeing on foot. Both have been charged with robbery, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle and menacing, police said.
According to the FDNY, five people were hurt as a result of the chase. Four were taken to North Shore-LIJ with minor or non-life threatening injuries. One person refused medical attention at the scene.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
