Cops: Bronx man with bricks of heroin led trooper on 100 mph chase on Route 22
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A Bronx, N.Y., man who led a state trooper on a five-mile chase that reached over 100 mph along Route 22 in Salem on Wednesday was found to be transporting more than 23 bricks of heroin, state police reported.
Holiday L. Vaughn, 35, was arrested just before 7 p.m. after crashing his 2016 black Mercedes into a grassy area west of New Alexandria at the highway’s intersection with Hornock Drive, according to court documents.
Vaughn was arraigned Thursday before Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing and eluding, illegal delivery and manufacturing of a controlled substance and possession of heroin filed by state police. Buczak ordered Vaughn held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $200,000 bail.
Trooper Justin Coda, a member of the state police Shield Unit that specializes in drug interdiction, reported that he was patrolling the highway east of New Alexandria when he saw Vaughn’s westbound car with a New York license plate.
“I noticed that the windows were tinted so dark that I could not see inside the vehicle. I followed the vehicle a short distance until I found a safe location to make a traffic stop,” Coda wrote in court documents.
However, Coda reported that Vaughn fled westbound “at speeds over 100 miles per hour on a busy highway.”
Coda said that Vaughn’s vehicle struck another vehicle before crashing near Hornock Drive, where he was taken into custody.
Police discovered 1,170 stamp bags of suspected heroin during a search of the vehicle, Coda reported.
Vaughn’s preliminary hearing is scheduled July 1 before Buczak.