Lawrence Man Faces 10 Charges After Police Chase, Crash

The man behind the wheel of a Honda Civic that led police on a four-mile chase on Wednesday morning has been identified as a 35-year-old from Lawrence.

Middleton police said that Juan Torrez, 35, would face 10 charges in Salem District Court on Thursday in connection to the chase and crash.

The chase started at about 9 a.m. on South Main Street (Route 114) in Middleton in front of Angelica’s Restaurant. Middleton Police Officer Michael LeCoist did a license plate check on Torrez’s vehicle and found that the registered owner had an expired license. LeCoist went to stop Torrez but he did not pull over. He led LeCoist, and later State Police troopers, on a chase that ended up covering about four miles down Route 62 into Danvers at speeds up to 80 MPH.

The chase ended at the intersection of Pine and Maple streets in Danvers, where the Honda clipped another vehicle and then rolled over, taking out several streets signs and seriously damaging the Honda.

Torrez allegedly got out and started running. He was taken into custody after a “short foot pursuit,” LeCoist said, with the help of State Trooper Anthony Vorias.

Torrez, who lists an address of 32 Lawrence St. in Lawrence - the Deacy Lodging House – was charged with failure to stop for police, operating to endanger, operating with a revoked driver’s license, speeding, marked lanes violation, resisting arrest, failure to stop or yield, disorderly conduct and giving a false name to a police officer.

Danvers Police Department, Danvers Fire Department and Lyons ambulance responded to the crash.

Lyons treated Torrez and took him to the hospital. He was released on Wednesday and police went to book him but he allegedly would not tell police his name, Middleton Police Chief James DiGianvittorio told Danvers Patch on Wednesday afternoon. Police used the Automated Fingerprint Identification System to both identify Torrez and locate four arrest warrants for him.

Danvers Police were never involved in the chase but filed a report on the crash. Nobody else was in the car with Torrez and nobody else was injured and nothing else was damaged in the chase and crash, police said.

Torrez was wanted by police on four outstanding warrants, Middleton police said. The warrants were for numerous charges, including some for drug charges, but police did not provide any specifics on the warrants.