Suspect in police chase fills out job application while hiding

WESTWOOD, Mass. — A suspect in a multi-town police chase almost escaped capture when he fled to a Westwood business and filled out a job application.

State police were pursuing Jose Jimenez, 26, of Lawrence, on Tuesday, when he ditched the car he was driving in a parking lot off University Ave., hopped out and entered nearby Osprey Wireless, police and workers said.

Surveillance video shows the suspect, accused of running over a trooper's foot during a traffic stop Thursday, calmly walking into the business, casually resting his arms on the front desk and asking if they are hiring, before General Manager Jeff Moran leads him into his office for an interview.

"I introduce myself. He introduces himself to me," Moran told Boston 25 News Tuesday. "Cool as a cucumber. No sweaty hands, clean shirt, pretty well groomed."

The interview was going well, Moran said. So the suspect filled out an application.

Meanwhile, outside, police were searching the premises, combing through the abandoned Toyota Camry, seizing wads of cash, a K-9 searching the trunk.

"I see all these police cars from every direction pulling into the parking lot, scrambling around," Moran said. "I said, 'Boy there goes a police dog by the window.' He goes, 'Let me see,' and he gets up, walks to the window."

Service manager Bryan Carpenter, whom the suspect had initially approached and asked if the company was hiring, noticed the activity and sensed something was wrong.

"I just got a bad feeling. Just something didn’t feel right," Carpenter said. "So I pulled Jeff out of his office and told him to wait here. I went and asked one of the troopers who were leaving what was going on."

Carpenter told police about the strange man inside his workplace. A trooper then showed Carpenter a picture, which he confirmed appeared to be the suspect.

The surveillance video captures the moment officers enter the building, two at the front entrance and another two led by Carpenter through the back.

"They grab him, and he starts to tussle with him," Moran said. "And the other two (troopers) come in, guns in hand. And they said to him, 'You didn’t think that we weren’t going find you, did you?'"

Police handcuffed Jimenez and escorted him outside, loading him into a cruiser before booking him into jail at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Milton.

Moran and Carpenter high-five each other and embrace on camera. They both told Boston 25 News they are grateful no one was hurt.

"We’re very fortunate that that’s how it ended, for us anyway," Moran said. "Not for him, but for us."

Jimenez is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Quincy District Court on charges of assault and battery on a police officer with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police, operating a motor vehicle after revocation, operating to endanger and speeding.

Cox Media Group