Teens face charges after chase, crash
A high-speed chase ended with a crash and two New York City teens facing charges, state police said.
A car crashed into a brick wall of a mixed-used building after being rear-ended by another car on North Front Street, temporarily displacing a tenant who lives in a basement apartment in the building, according to New Paltz Fire Chief Corey Wirthmann.
Wirthmann said firefighters were called to the scene at 2:22 p.m. Saturday. He said authorities determined that a Chrysler PT Cruiser was traveling north on North Front Street when it struck the rear of a Toyota Camry.
The impact caused the driver of the Camry to hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing the car to crash into a three-story building at 19 N. Front St., on the corner of North Chestnut Street, Wirthmann said.
The crash created a hole in the brick foundation of the building, which houses the Vape King’s vape shop along with a single apartment in the basement and another apartment above the shop, Wirthmann said. A total of three people live in the two apartments, he said.
Wirthmann said neither of the drivers was injured and authorities did not identify them.
Wirthmann, who also serves as a fire safety inspector for the village, said he ordered the building owner to put up plywood to cover the hole until repairs could be made and that owner was responsible for the putting the tenant up in a hotel until the hole was fixed.
“He pretty much did that right away,” Wirthmann said.
New Paltz Police Department Lt. Rob Lucchesi said neither driver was charged.
“It was just an accident,” Lucchesi said.