Pickup truck pulled from water off Martha’s Vineyard days after wild police chase

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. — A pickup truck operated by a man who allegedly rammed into a police cruiser and drove off a Steamship Authority ferry ramp in an attempt to evade capture on Martha’s Vineyard last week was finally pulled from the water on Tuesday.

JWL Transport workers, Packer Marine, and Oaks Bluffs Fire-EMS teams pulled the waterlogged Ford F-250 pickup truck from the ocean near the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority pier around 9 a.m., according to the Oak Bluffs Police Department.

The truck drove into the ocean following a police pursuit on April 11.

An Oaks Bluff police sergeant was on patrol on the island when he spotted a pickup truck being driven by a man wanted for “arrestable crimes of violence” that occurred in Oaks Bluff earlier in the evening, Oaks Bluff Police Lieutenant Nicholas W. Curelli said in a news release.

The sergeant attempted to stop the pickup truck in the area of Masonic Avenue but the driver allegedly accelerated rapidly in reverse and rammed into the front of his cruiser, causing significant damage.

The truck then sped off and the sergeant couldn’t keep up with the driver because of the damage to his cruiser, according to Curelli. The sergeant later spotted the driver turn onto the gated ramp of the Steamship Authority Dock at the corner of Seaview and Oak Bluffs avenues, where the truck launched off of a ferry ramp into the water.

After the police requested help from the Oak Bluffs Fire Department and the United States Coast Guard, search teams observed the suspect as he swam away from the ramp and climbed a ladder onto a large piling. Firefighters and police officers then drove a boat over to the suspect and took him into custody.

The suspect, whose name hasn’t been released, was treated at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for minor hand injuries and booked into the Dukes County Jail.

He was arraigned Friday in Edgartown District Court on charges including two counts of assault and battery on a family or household member, assault and battery with a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, two counts of vandalism, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, refusal to stop for police, trespassing with a motor vehicle, and speeding, according to the Oak Bluffs Police Department.

An investigation remains ongoing.

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