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HomeNewsLocal newsMore Charges Brought in What Police Call STJ 'Road Rage' Case

More Charges Brought in What Police Call STJ ‘Road Rage’ Case

Alexander A. Farrelly Justice Center (Source photo by James Gardner)
Alexander A. Farrelly Justice Center (Source file photo by James Gardner)

Police have upgraded charges against Rashad Creque, who was arrested on St. John on Oct. 9 after leading authorities on an islandwide chase in what police are calling an apparent act of road rage, then rearrested on Oct. 14 to add additional charges.

Creque was initially charged with illegal possession and discharge of a firearm. But detectives investigating the incident upgraded the charges brought against the 24-year-old, rearresting him on Oct. 14. By the time he appeared at a preliminary hearing in Superior Court, Creque was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and a charge of first-degree assault was added the next day.

Court documents filed in connection with the case describe an alleged encounter between Creque – a Viya employee operating a white bucket truck owned by his employer – and two men traveling in another white truck bearing a logo for a St. John concrete company. When the driver and the passenger in the second truck were questioned by detectives, they said they encountered the suspect twice:

– Once when he verbally abused them for partially blocking a roadway near Pine Peace Basketball Courts.

– A second time, when they met Creque and the bucket truck. The men said he was driving erratically, and gunshots were directed toward them.

No injuries were reported. The probable cause fact sheet describing the Oct. 9 incident also describes a string of events that were at first described by police spokesman Toby Derima as an islandwide police pursuit.

Police on St. John responded to three different calls by citizens.

The first came from the vicinity of the basketball court, in the Contant section of St. John. Police responded to a report of a male in possession of a firearm. But Detective Shikima Rhymer said by the time officers arrived at the scene they found everything in apparent order.

The next call came about a half-hour later, this time from Centerline Road, heading east from Cruz Bay. Details of the report were vague but involved a male driving a white Viya truck and two males traveling in a St. John concrete cement truck.

Several units responded to the scene. When they spotted the truck driven by a single male – later identified as Creque – police got involved in a chase and later reported the driver managed to evade them, Rhymer said.

The time of the next call to police was unspecified. Police received a report from the Theovald Moorehead barge and cargo dock in the area once called Enighed Pond. At that site, police said they were met by a boat captain who reported a single male motorist driving a white truck who verbally abused crew members and civilians.

Another encounter between the bucket truck driver and police took place, this time along Southshore Road through Cruz Bay. The truck driver again managed to escape his pursuers.

The bucket truck was later found abandoned on Bordeaux Mountain Road, six and a half miles east of Cruz Bay and south of Centerline Road. An inspection of the vehicle produced two handguns, ammunition and a two-way handheld radio, police said.

Police also found several pieces of identification bearing Creque’s name.

On Oct. 10, the day after the shooting and chase, detectives met the occupants of the concrete company truck.

In a press release issued on Oct. 12, Derima said the second charge arose from a complaint from Viya. “He was not authorized by his employer at the time to operate the vehicle used in the pursuit. During the course of the pursuit, Creque caused major damages to the vehicle, leaving the vehicle now non-operational,” the police spokesman said.

Creque was being held in jail at the Criminal Justice Complex when detectives added the first-degree assault charge on Oct. 15. By then, the Creque had been arrested a second time.

Creque is scheduled to appear at another hearing on Wednesday in the Superior Court Magistrate’s Division.

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