‘Grinch’ road check sets off chase ending in arrest of Depew man, 23
A 23-year-old Depew man led four police agencies on a high-speed chase from Buffalo Niagara International Airport to the Bailey-East Delavan neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.
A multiagency task force including federal, state, local and Canadian police was conducting vehicle inspection points at the airport as part of “Operation: The Grinch,” said Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesman C. Douglas Hartmeyer.
At about 1: 30 p. m., a K-9 unit at an inspection station showed interest in an approaching vehicle driven by Wilbert Livingston III, Hartmeyer said.
Livingston was instructed to pull up to a secondary station for further inspection and put his car in park. He kept his car in drive when he pulled to the next station and then sped away, narrowly missing two state troopers and two NFTA police officers, Hartmeyer said.
Cheektowaga, Buffalo, NFTA and state police pursued Livingston westbound on the Kensington Expressway.
Livingston exited the expressway at Grider Street, then got back on the expressway headed east from Grider.
He then exited the expressway again at Olympic Avenue, and proceeded along some side streets.
Livingston’s vehicle eventually struck a Buffalo police car and crashed into a tree at Newburgh and Proctor avenues.
He then got out of his car and ran. A State Police dog and NFTA officers tracked Livingston to a garage on Gerald Avenue, where he was found hiding.
A Buffalo officer in the police car that was struck was transported from the scene to Erie County Medical Center for observation, said Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. De- George.
Police aren’t sure what made Livingston speed away from the inspection point but will be charging him with multiple felonies as well as vehicle and traffic violations, Hartmeyer said.
Tuesday was the second of three scheduled operations by the “Operation: The Grinch” task force, which is funded through the Department of Homeland Security with the State Police as the lead agency, said Transit Police Lt. Michael Garrity.
Other participating agencies include U. S. Border Patrol, the Transportation Security Administration and Depew police, Garrity said.
The police agencies conduct the operation at numerous locations at once. On Nov. 26, they conducted checks at the airport, the Amtrak station in Depew, on the transit system and at the downtown transportation center on Ellicott Street, Garrity said.
Tuesday’s checks included an inspection point on Ellicott Street.
The third day for the operation, which is being held around the state, is scheduled for a January date, he said.
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