Chase Ends With Arrest at Lawrence Shopping Center

A Lawrence Township man was arrested on multiple charges – including drug possession – after he allegedly led police officers on a brief foot chase that ended in front of the Acme supermarket at Lawrence Shopping Center Monday night (Sept. 12).

Michael A. Kimball, 26, of the 100 block of Roxboro Road, was charged with eluding, drug possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as being wanted in connection with a $673 warrant from Lawrence Township, according to Lt. Charles Edgar, spokesman for the Lawrence Township Police Department.

Edgar said Officer Jim Vardanega was sent to Colonial Lake Drive on an unrelated matter when, just before 8:30 p.m. Monday, he spotted a suspicious male sitting on a bench in the darkness outside an office building on Colonial Lake Drive near Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1). As soon as Vardanega turned a spotlight on the man, the man allegedly fumbled to collect items on the bench and then started to run off, he said.

Vardanega identified himself as a police officer and ordered the man to stop, but the man still allegedly fled, Edgar said. As it was unclear at that time what exactly the man had been up to or why he had run, Edgar said, numerous other officers responded to the area and set up a perimeter to search for the man.

After a few minutes, Edgar said, Officer Erini Papafilipakis spotted someone matching the description of the suspect walking across Brunswick Pike toward the shopping center. He said Papafilipakis, backed up by the other officers, was able to catch up to and detain the man in the parking lot in front of the supermarket.

The man was identified as Kimball, Edgar said. He said a search of the bench and surrounding area on Colonial Lake Drive revealed a bag containing a green leafy substance suspected to be marijuana, a cigar wrapper and a small pouch containing other items, including Kimball’s identification.

Kimball was placed under arrest and received treatment from medical personnel for minor cuts and scrapes he had received while allegedly trying to elude the officers, Edgar said.

Ironically, township officers had been at Kimball’s house on Roxboro Road a few hours earlier Monday after a female relative called police at 6:45 p.m. to report that someone had stolen a blue and silver mountain bicycle from the side of her home, Edgar confirmed.

He said the woman told officers the family had removed the bike from their basement due to recent flooding and had left it on the side of the house while the basement dried out. The woman estimated the bike – valued at about $500 – was stolen sometime between 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. that day, he said.