Driver fled on foot after flipping pickup, police say

Juan A. Beniquez, 30, of Port Ewen was was taken into custody soon after the incident.

A Port Ewen man ran off from a vehicle he had just rolled over but was captured by officers soon after, the town police department said Tuesday.

Juan A. Beniquez, 30, was taken into custody about 9:15 a.m. Sunday and charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle without an interlock device, both misdemeanors, and the traffic infractions of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle without insurance, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with improper plates, and leaving the scene of a property-damage motor vehicle accident.

Interlock devices are devices mandated by courts upon some convictions for drunken driving.

Police said in a press release that Beniquez was driving a 2015 Chevrolet pickup south on state Route 32 when he passed another vehicle at a high rate of speed, lost control of the truck, “left the roadway, entered a drainage ditch and struck a large rock embankment.”

The pickup “then overturned completely, landing back on its tires in the southbound lane of travel,” police said.

Beniquez was able to “self-extricate” from the truck and ran off, police said. They said he was found a short distance away.

Police said Beniquez suffered minor injuries in the crash and was taken by ambulance to HealthAlliance’s Hospital Broadway Campus in Kingston for treatment.

Police said Beniquez did not have a driver’s license and that his “privilege to obtain [one] was suspended numerous times.”