UPDATE: Car Chase Ends in West Nyack

Three Orangetown police officers were injured when a car chase ended in a crash on Green Road in West Nyack Friday morning.

Clarkstown and Orangetown officers were at the scene, and the suspect--26-year-old Dennis Lecei of Middletown, NY--is in custody. As of Friday evening, Orangetown police reported Lecei had been remanded to the Rockland County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Lecei led officers on a chase through Clarkstown and Orangetown, losing control of his vehicle and damaging property at one point, and slamming into a civilian vehicle at another time during the pursuit, police said.

Lecei is accused of injuring an officer by ramming his vehicle, a white Chevrolet Suburban, into a squad car; he allegedly injured other officers while struggling during his arrest.

The crash reportedly occurred when the suspect's vehicle hit a rock and then a utility pole knocking out power to one residence. Green Road was closed at Tompkins.

An O&R crew was also at the location making pole and service line repairs, which were completed at approximately 1 p.m. Friday.

Lecei has been charged with reckless endangerment in the first degree, a felony, assault in the second degree, a felony, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

Witnesses describe the scene (updated Friday, 3:36 p.m.)

The chase, which began on the NYS Thruway and led police onto Route 303 before ending when the truck being pursued failed to make a turn, hit a large rock and then slammed into a telephone pole in front of the home of Mike and Melissa Conklin.

"I was coming down the stairs and just hearing the sirens and all of a sudden, I heard a crash," Melissa Conklin said. "(I heard the officers yell) 'Get out of the car.' I heard the windshield break.

"The cops had everything out. It was chaos."

"When I got up here, the cop was breaking the windshield. They had their weapons drawn."

Neighbors reported that the driver was leaning out the window to see where he was going because the hood on the front of his truck was up from previous collisions during the chase.

"We thought it was a fire," said Rich Dyer, who lives across the street from the Conklins. "We saw radio calls all the way around here. They were trying to get him out, guns drawn. They got him out. He was laying on the ground saying his back hurts. They put him on a stretcher."

Mike Conklin said he had placed the large rock in front of his home to protect it from an incident like today's. The Conklins' home did suffer damage, including broken fences.

"I put this rock here seven years ago," Conklin said. "People go off this corner all the time. Someday, I thought it would come in handy. I knew somebody was going to go off the road.

"The house is right here. There is a gas and electric right here."

Conklin said he was positive that the truck would have slammed into his house if not for the rock.

"It was scary," Melissa Conklin said.