High Speed Chase Ends in Arrest of Drug Dealer

Long Beach police went on a high-speed chase Thursday night that ended with the wanted motorist plowing his car into a police cruiser and knocking it into seven other vehicles in the Canals neighborhood.

Jabori Gibson, 21, of Roosevelt, who police characterize as a violent drug dealer with a record, was arrested at about 11 p.m. on Aug. 30 and charged with several violations: reckless driving, reckless endangerment, assault, criminal possession of stolen property, fleeing a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident, criminal possession of a narcotic drug with intent to sell and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by a drug.

According to the Long Beach Police Department, Thursday’s incident grew out of another violation earlier in the week, when Gibson drove through a stop sign on East Beech Street and took police on a high-speed chase. The police ceased their pursuit due to concern for public safety, but they were able to identify the vehicle, a Mazda, and its plate number, Commissioner Michael Tangney told Patch.

On Thursday, Long Beach police officer Joe Wieman, who was involved in the pursuit, was driving to work when he spotted the Mazda and he notified his fellow officers, who waited for Gibson as he drove across the Long Beach Bridge into the city. Gibson turned east and police pursued him into the Canals neighborhood. Tangney told the Long Beach Herald:

“The pursuit ended on Dalton Street. 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.”

Gibson jumped out of the vehicle, which police would learn was stolen, and fled on foot. Officers pursued and confined him to a one-block radius on Dalton, between East Pine and East Chester streets, set up a perimeter around that area, and conducted a house-to-house search, Tangney told Patch.

Meanwhile, the Nassau County Police Department K-9 and aviation units were dispatched to the scene. The police dogs were able to assist with the search to locate the suspect, who was found hiding under a porch. He resisted arrest and fought with one office, and after he was handcuffed he hit a second officer, according to Tangney. Both officers sustained minor injuries.

“Fortunately, the aviation unit was not needed, but they were requested in case something did go wrong,” Tangney said. “We wanted to make sure we had all of our bases covered.”

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Leah Bozhilova, who lives on the corner of Dalton and East Pine, told Patch that there were numerous police cars and officers on the scene.

“We heard the dogs start barking and this is about an hour or an hour and a half after it began,” Bozhilova recalled. “The first thing I noticed were the police cars and sirens at around 10 p.m., and soon after that the helicopters overhead were going back and forth, back and forth, and that went on for a good 30 to 35 minutes. More police cars kept coming.”

Tangney told Patch that police found a “sizable” amount of narcotics in the vehicle and were able to charge Gibson with intent to distribute heroin. He said that Gibson was unarmed but was under the influence of drugs.

“I am very proud of the diligence and awareness of all the officers, especially officer Wieman, who observed the vehicle on his way to work, and putting all of these facts together to get a very dangerous individual off the streets,” he said.

Gibson was arraigned at Long Beach City Courty on Thursday and the case was transferred to Nassau County Criminal Court.