Revere cabbie helps arrest suspect

REVERE – A local cab driver helped capture a suspect who was trying to outrun police near Brown Circle on Wednesday after he bailed out of a stolen car that crashed, police said.Barry Nguyen, 19, of 3 Greentree Lane, Revere and Steven Mejia, 17, of 63 Central Ave., Chelsea, were arrested and charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, resisting arrest and other charges at about 1:40 a.m.Officers caught Mejia hiding in a backyard storage shed at 20 Beach Road following the crash. Nguyen was found hiding in the bushes of 17 Beach Road when he tried to run away toward Gage Avenue, police said.As he was running away from three officers and a State Police K-9 unit, a taxi driver witnessed the incident and was closer to the suspect, so he caught the young man himself, according to Police Capt. Dennis Collyer.Nguyen continued to resist arrest and injured two officers in the process, police said.Collyer praised the cabbie’s efforts but said citizens shouldn’t take the job of law enforcement upon themselves.”I applaud him for his efforts,” Collyer said. “We appreciate him doing that but he put himself in harm’s way.””He didn’t get injured which is good.”However, Officer William Soto was treated for a head injury and Officer Patrick Dussault had an injured right knee.Collyer declined to identify the cabbie out of concern for the man’s personal safety.The drama began to unfold around 1:30 a.m. when Dussault and Officer Brian Thornton spotted a stolen vehicle – a white Honda with a black hood – driving northbound on Broadway near Mountain Avenue, police said.The license plate number on the vehicle matched the number reported off a stolen vehicle in Everett, according to Collyer.The officers activated their car’s blue lights and sirens and the stolen car began to pull over. However, before the car came to a complete stop the driver, identified as Nguyen, changed his mind and the vehicle quickly accelerated toward Brown Circle, police said.The officers began following the stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed, according to police.When the vehicle approached the rotary it apparently couldn’t make the turn and crashed into the grassy island, causing damage to the landscape, police said.In addition to the charges already mentioned, Nguyen was charged with reckless operation of a vehicle, failing to stop for police, malicious destruction of property over $250 and disorderly conduct.Mejia was also charged with malicious destruction of property over $250 and possession of a burglarious instrument.