West Windsor police nab three suspects after armed robbery and chase on Route 1

Police in West Windsor caught three suspects in an armed robbery on Tuesday night after a chase on Route 1.

Two employees at the AT&T store on Route 1 at Washington Road  were taken at gunpoint into the rear storage room at closing time just before 8 p.m. on Aug 8. They were tied up with zipties on their ankles and wrists, with their hands behind their backs.

Police were dispatched to the store for an armed robbery in progress. A Black Chevrolet Equinox with an obscured  Pennsylvania license plate that was later determined to be fictitious was observed leaving the parking lot by the initial officers arrived on scene. An officer followed the vehicle northbound on U.S. Route 1 into Plainsboro. The officer tried to pull the Equinox over in his marked patrol car, but the driver tried to flee. She exited at Scudders Mill Road, continued onto the US Route 1 overpass and entered onto US Route 1 south, back into West Windsor Township, weaving in and out of lanes through moderate traffic while attempting to lose police.

Other officers joined the pursuit on Route 1 south. The Equinox, which was traveling at a high speed,  turned abruptly onto Carnegie Center Boulevard westbound, past Canal Pointe Boulevard, and then continued onto Heritage Boulevard northbound.  The Chevrolet came to a stop on Heritage Boulevard at Federal Court, where a police officer who had been working an extra duty traffic assignment on Canal Pointe Boulevard was able to arrest the driver,  Tyreane D. Tucker-Brown, 44, of Orange, without incident.

The Equinox then caught on fire due to the extreme driving, police said. Officers battled the flames until West Windsor Emergency Services safely extinguished the fire.

At the AT&T store, police found the two employees tied up in the rear storage room. Two of the suspects, Gregory T. Smith, 53,  and Benjamin Green, 47, both of Philadelphia, were in the storage room as well. The two suspects were arrested without further incident. Two loaded handguns, proceeds, and other items were found. One of the loaded handguns had two hollow point bullets.

Tucker-Brown, Smith, and Green were charged with robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, kidnapping, and eluding police. Tucker-Brown also was issued numerous motor vehicle summonses. The three suspects were turned over to the custody of the Mercer County Workhouse pending bail hearings in Mercer County Superior Court.

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.