Ansonia police have five people in custody after they allegedly engaged police in a chase Monday afternoon.
The incident happened at about noon, when Ansonia police received a report of an attempted burglary on Prindle Avenue, according to Lt. Andrew Cota.
Ansonia police responded, and found a white van speeding away from the neighborhood. Police pursued.
They followed the van past the police department on Platt Street and down Vine Street.
The van turned onto Hodge Avenue, a long residential road parallel to Jewett Street. It then turned right onto Burke Street — a dead end.
“They turned down there, figuring they could escape down a back road,” said Mary Ann Belhumeur, who watched the incident unfold from her front porch on Burke Street.
“It skidded onto the side (of the road) and stopped,” she said. ​“They all jumped out like a bunch of bunny rabbits. They all hopped over fences to see if they could run away. They were hiding behind houses.”
Five police cars were a couple seconds behind the van, Belhumeur said.
Police hadn’t processed the suspects as of Monday afternoon, but Cota said the department would release the suspects’ names if they were not juveniles. They all appeared to be teenagers, he said.
The van was reported stolen, Cota said.
Some of the young men had run into the woods between Burke Street and Main Street, and police had searched the woods for them before taking them into custody.
As of 1 p.m., police continued to search the woods in case there was a sixth person in the van, Cota said.
No more details were available as of 1 p.m.
This article will be updated with more information as it becomes available.