Long Beach police arrest drug dealer after high-speed chase

Man who fled officers after crash found hiding under resident’s front steps

Posted

In a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie, Long Beach police arrested a “violent” drug dealer on Thursday after a high-speed chase ended when he plowed his car into a police cruiser and sent it careering into other vehicles in a normally quiet Canals neighborhood.

Police Commissioner Mike Tangney said that 21-year-old Jabori Gibson, of Roosevelt, was arrested just after 11 p.m. on Aug. 30 when police officers found him hiding on Dalton Street after he totaled two police cars. Two officers sustained minor injuries during the incident.

Police had pursued Gibson just a few nights earlier after he allegedly ran a stop sign on East Beech Street. Tangney said Gibson fled police when they attempted to pull him over in what they later learned was a stolen Mazda.

On Thursday night, however, an off-duty Long Beach police officer who was involved in that pursuit recognized the Mazda as it was traveling south on Long Beach Boulevard, and notified his fellow police officers as he followed the vehicle.

“The officer stayed on the phone with them, updating them with information about where he was,” Tangney said.

Once Gibson crossed the bridge, Tangney said, Long Beach police were waiting for him, and Gibson gunned it, dodging lights and stop signs as he headed east into the Canals. Police gave chase for about five blocks before he turned onto Dalton Street.

There, he briefly attempted to hide from police in the backseat of his car, but jumped back into the driver's seat and threw the car in reverse when police approached. Tangney said Gibson then attempted to hit police with his car.

“The pursuit ended on Dalton Street,” Tangney said. “He drove head on into a police car — he totaled the police car. He hit the police car so hard that it hit a second police car, damaging six privately owned parked cars and a fire hydrant.”

His car totaled, Gibson fled on foot. Long Beach police descended on Dalton Street, between East Pine and East Chester streets, with a K-9 unit and Nassau County Police Department aviation unit. Tangney said about 15 police officers were on the scene, instructing residents to stay indoors as they conducted a search of the area.

“They did a systematic search that included going to each home,” Tangney said.

Page 1 / 3