A Highland Park man is being held on drug charges after leading police on a chase through the borough that ended in a collision on Benner Street.
Rolondo J. Zeledon, 40, is charged with aggravated assault, eluding police and resisting arrest as a result of the chase. He also faces other charges, related to ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana allegedly found in his car.
A statement from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office lacked an address for Mr. Zeledon. A spokesperson for the office did not immediately return calls requesting more information than was in the initial statement.
Pursuit began at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, June 25, 2015, on Valentine Street, where Mr. Zeledon reportedly fled in a 2005 Toyota Camry after police initially approached him. Seeing Mr. Zeledon attempting to flee, a detective from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office backed his car out from a driveway and into the street, where Mr. Zeledon allegedly hit him.
The collision left the Camry with four flat tires, but Mr. Zeledon drove off anyway, the prosecutor’s office said. He drove up Cedar Avenue and then turned right onto Benner Street, before reportedly crashing into a Highland Park patrol car blocking the road at Felton Avenue.
During a search, police uncovered 3.22 ounces of cocaine and 2.4 ounces of ecstasy, in addition to less than 50 grams of marijuana. Officers arrested him at the scene and took him to Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick. Bail was set at $300,000.
Authorities charged Mr. Zeledon with possession of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, distribution of cocaine, possession of drugs within 500 feet of a park, possession of drugs within 1,000 feet of a school, and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as possession of ecstasy and possession of ecstasy with the intent to distribute it.
In addition to the drug-related charges, Mr. Zeledon also is facing a number of charges pertaining to an uncategorized weapon that he allegedly had with him. He is prohibited from possessing a weapon as the result of a prior conviction in a previous and unrelated crime, the prosecutor’s office said.
Other weapons charges include unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon during the course of a crime.