Man Allegedly Led Police on Minivan Chase

The driver of a blue minivan allegedly ran several stop signs and swerved into oncoming traffic to illegally pass another car on Route 724 as an East Pikeland officer tailed him in an attempted traffic stop last week.

Andrew Darnell Granger, 27, of Spring City, is charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police, a felony. He faces two misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and several summary traffic violations following an alleged incident on Feb. 1.

According to an affidavit filed in district court, an East Pikeland officer was conducting speed enforcement at 4:23 p.m. along the 500 block of South Wall Street when a blue Ford Windstar traveled eastbound through the enforcement zone going 40 miles per hour in a 25 mile-per-hour zone.

The officer pulled his marked patrol vehicle out to follow the van, which gradually accelerated as it traveled away from the enforcement area. The van traveled through the stop sign at Wall Street and made a right on Spring City Road, later heading southbound on Spring Hollow Road.

The officer turned on his emergency lights in an attempt to stop the van, which ran another stop sign on Spring Hollow Road before turning onto Schuylkill Road/Route 724, according to police. While traveling west on Schuylkill Road, the van allegedly passed another vehicle in a no passing zone near Stoney Run Road in East Vincent Township.

“As the vehicle was passing the other vehicle it almost struck an oncoming vehicle head-on,” the officer wrote in the criminal complaint.

The van driver turned right onto Park Road and parked in the Park Spring Apartment complex. The driver got out of the vehicle and ran to a building in the complex and the officer lost sight of him.

After checking on the tags on the minivan, the officer determined that it belonged to two women living in the 600 block of Park Springs Boulevard. More officers arrived at the scene and a woman, later determined to be one of the van owners, opened the door as officers approached.

Inside, they found Granger in a towel and soaking wet from a shower, according to police. He was detained and police questioned him. Initially, Granger denied being the driver of the van, according to the affidavit.

The van owner told police she lent the vehicle to Granger so he could go pick up his daughter from school, and Granger then admitted that he’d been driving the van, according to police.

“Granger said that he ran because he thought he may go to jail over a previous ticket,” the criminal complaint states.

Police checked and found that Granger does not have a valid driver’s license and also saw a state inspection and emissions sticker that had expired in October. The third brake light on the van was also out, as the officer noticed when he was pursuing the vehicle.

Granger was taken into custody and arraigned on Feb. 1. Bail was set at $500, which was posted the same day. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23 in district court in Phoenixville.