Police in Shenandoah say they held three men in a fleeing vehicle at gunpoint in an incident last week.
According to court documents, just before 10:30 p.m. on June 5, police were on patrol in the 100 block of E. Centre St. in the borough when a silver BMW 535 going at a high rate of speed went over a hump in the road.
Police say the vehicle appeared to lift entirely off the road when it hit the hump. It then crossed over the yellow lines in the middle of the road and continued east into the 200 block of E. Centre St. The vehicle then passed a vehicle that was also in the eastbound lane of the street.
An attempt at a traffic stop was initiated but the BMW sped up, passing another vehicle in the 600 block of E. Centre St. The car continued to speed up, eventually heading onto Suffolk Rd. Police say they temporarily lost sight of the vehicle.
However, at the intersection of Suffolk Rd. and Patriotic Hill Rd., the vehicle was discovered crashed into a fence.
Police got out and held three men inside at gunpoint until backup arrived on the scene. All three were then taken into custody.
While in custody, police say the driver – identified as Emmanol Diaz Villafana, 21, of Shenandoah – admitted to running from the police and said that a back-seat passenger was telling him he needed to run. Diaz, police say, was driving on a suspended license.
That back-seat passenger, police say, was identified as Julio Polanco and he had an active bench warrant for failing to appear for court.
The third passenger was released.
Diaz Villafana has been charged with fleeing police, a third-degree felony, and reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. He also faces several summary traffic penalties.
He was arraigned before District Magistrate Judge David Plachko early Friday morning. Plachko set bail at $50,000 and remanded Diaz Villafana to Schuylkill County Prison.
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