Two men arrested after high-speed chase through busy area of Palm Beach

Two Broward County men are facing charges after leading police on a high-speed chase through a busy area of town, damaging several cars before running from officers, according to a police report.

Palm Beach police said a 21-year-old from Sunrise and a 22-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, who were arrested following the April 21 incident, had burglary tools in their car as they fled.

Officers were first called just before 8 p.m. that night by someone who reported a suspicious white Chevrolet Camaro in the 200 block of Via Del Mar, an arrest report said. The car had pulled into a private driveway, the caller told police.

When a member of Palm Beach Police Department's Burglary Strike Force ran the license plate number provided by the caller, the officer found that the plate was registered to a blue Nissan, not a white Chevrolet, the report said.

The officer then ran the plate number through the town's license-plate reader system and found that while the Camaro had entered Palm Beach, it had not left.

Soon, another officer reported seeing the car driving west on Kenlyn Road, the report said. The officer lost sight of the Camaro, but within a few minutes found it again driving south in the 1300 block of North Ocean Boulevard, police said.

When that officer tried to pull over the Camaro, the driver sped away, passing cars in the oncoming lane and driving recklessly, the arrest report said.

When the officer caught up to the Camaro at the intersection of South County Road and Royal Poinciana Way, the driver turned west onto Royal Poinciana and immediately made a U-turn to go back east toward South County Road, police said.

The Burglary Strike Force member and another Palm Beach officer joined the chase, which led to Sunset Avenue, where the Camaro's driver turned west in the eastbound-only 200 block, police said.

The Chevy's driver sped down the busy block, with people and cars rushing to get out of the way, the arrest report said.

The Camaro traveled through the Sunset Avenue intersection with Bradley Place so quickly that the driver almost lost control and side-swiped cars that were parked along the street, police said.

The driver pulled into a condominium parking lot at 333 Sunset Ave., and the two men inside the car jumped out and ran, the arrest report said.

The man from Sunrise was seen walking toward Bradley Park, but when he spotted officers looking for him, he ran back toward the condominium and was arrested in the parking lot there, police said.

The other man was arrested in the condominium building's lobby while trying to get into the elevator, police said.

The Sunrise man admitted to police that he was the passenger in the car and that the driver was "actively fleeing law enforcement prior to bailing," police said.

The Fort Lauderdale man said he was the Camaro's driver and that he did not stop for officers because "he was not a fan of law enforcement," the arrest report said. He also told police that the car was rented, but he was not the one who rented it.

Surveillance video from the condominium showed the two men jump out of the Camaro and try to get into the building through a locked gate, police said. The video showed the men trying unsuccessfully to get into the building through a locked door, police said.

But they were able to get into the building's private pool and patio area, police said.

In the Camaro, police found a Missouri license plate, a key fob to another car, and burglary tools including two sets of black gloves, a ski mask and two screw drivers, police said.

The Sunrise man was charged with a misdemeanor of resisting an officer without violence, and he remains in Palm Beach County Jail on a $5,000 bond as of Wednesday, court records show.

The Fort Lauderdale man was charged with fleeing or eluding at a high speed, burglary of an occupied residence, resisting without violence and driving with a suspended driver's license. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on April 23 on a $130,000 bond.

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Men arrested after high-speed chase through busy area of Palm Beach