Bethlehem Police have arrested a man they say fled a traffic stop last week, led police on a high-speed chase and then vanished into the woods.
Robert Cooper Moor III, 43, of 16 Pulver Avenue, Ravena, was yesterday arrested by Coeymans Police on an arrest warrant and arraigned in Bethlehem Town Court on charges of reckless endangerment, fleeing, resisting arrest, reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and a laundry list of traffic violations.
Moor allegedly eluded police for over week after he was pulled over Sunday, April 3, on Route 9W for having inadequate exhaust on the 1998 Hyuandai Elantra he was driving. As the patrol officer approached the car, Moor took off and headed south at a high rate of speed and traveling erratically, according to police reports.
Police caught up to Moor and maintained contact as he allegedly broke a litany of traffic laws. In the vicinity of the Van Allen Senior Apartments he left the roadway and traveled across a muddy field, briefly becoming stuck at one point, police said.
Moor then allegedly drove the vehicle onto the parking lot at the apartment complex and circled the building, when police briefly lost sight of him. Upon circling the building, police saw the unoccupied car about 300 feet into the woods, sitting unoccupied.
Police set up a perimeter and began canvasing the woods. A call was received from a nearby homeowner reporting a white male on the property and police briefly caught up with their suspect before Moor was again lost in a dense growth of high bushes, according to police.
The registered owner of the Elantra said she had loaned it to her daughter’s boyfriend and police began tracking down Moor. At about 10:43 p.m. that evening an off-duty Coeymans Police Department officer reported seeing Moor at the Stewarts on 9W in Bethlehem Center, but while he was phoning in the information Moor became suspicious and left, according to arrest reports. A canvass of the area was fruitless.
The next contact reported by police was when Moor was arrested by Coeymans Police. He was arraigned and remanded to Albany County Jail in lieu of $15,000 cash or $30,000 bail bond.
The crimes Moor was charged with were misdemeanors and violations. He did not reveal why he decided to flee, said Sergeant Robert Helligrass of the Bethlehem Police Department, though he was allegedly driving on a suspended license.“
