A high-speed car chase came to an end in Chicopee on Monday morning after the driver of a stolen taxi cab hit the State Police road spikes, which shredded his tires to ribbons.
State Police got a report of a stolen taxi cab out of Watertown at approximately 3:28 a.m. A trooper on the Mass Pike westbound spotted the cab and followed him for a bit before backup arrived.
At that point, the Troopers hit the lights and the cab floored it, reaching speeds of over 100 mph. When the pursuing Troopers couldn’t stop the driver after a few attempts, they called in the road spikes. A Trooper in Chicopee laid down road spikes, which took a bite out of the cab’s tires, slowing the chase down to about 30 mph.
The driver, Welbert Nasser, 29, of Woburn, then pulled off the highway at I-291 and headed into Springfield, where he got onto Route 20 and stopped in a parking lot.
After a brief and unsuccessful attempt at fleeing on foot, the driver was taken down and charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for police, speeding on the Mass Pike, marked lanes violations, reckless operation of a vehicle and operating a suspended license for a subsequent offense.
State Police bust alleged taxi thief after wicked high speed chase
Massachusetts State Police
