Police: Chase started when cars cut off trooper

A man told troopers he was “sorry” he and his fiancee, who had their 10-month-old child in her car, led police on a Tuesday night chase ending in a Whitehall Township crash, authorities said.

The chase began when

Xavier Velez, 21, of the 2600 block of Spring Street, Coplay, and Millenniah Jefferson, 21, of the 700 block of East Tilghman Street, Allentown, driving separate vehicles, cut in front of a trooper’s vehicle in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, states an arrest affidavit filed Wednesday.

Velez and Jefferson were charged with fleeing and reckless endangerment and cited with running stop signs and a red light, endangering children’s welfare and driving without licenses. District Judge Jacob Hammond sent both to county jail under $10,000 bail each.

According to the state police affidavit:

At 7:18 p.m., a trooper was turning right at the green light from Airport Road onto Race Street when two cars cut in front of him and sped west on Race Street. The cars were a Nissan Sentra driven by Jefferson, with her 10-month-old passenger, and a Ford Focus driven by Velez.

The trooper chased both cars, signaling for them to pull over, as they weaved in and out of traffic and then turned north on Willowbrook Road. Both cars turned east on Savage Road, running a stop sign, and then ran another stop sign as they sped toward Main Street.

Jefferson and Velez then ran a red light and sped west on Main Street, crossing the double-yellow line to pass other vehicles, toward MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township.

Approaching the intersection, Jefferson’s car hit a sport utility vehicle, knocking it into a pickup truck with an 8-monthold passenger. Velez’s car then rear-ended Jefferson’s and hit the SUV.

The trooper got Velez out of his car and handcuffed him. Velez told the trooper he was “sorry for running and should have stopped,” the affidavit states.

He asked the trooper to check on Jefferson, identifying her as his fiancee, and their child. The trooper found Jefferson unconscious in the driver seat.

Velez, Jefferson and their child were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. No one in the other two vehicles was injured.