Shoplifting suspect rammed police cars at NJ mall, cops say

⚠️ Three men were arrested after police targeted suspected shoplifters at Garden State Plaza.

🚔 Officers say the driver rammed several police vehicles before he was pulled from the Mercedes.

➡️ Police say the car was linked to earlier robberies in Tenafly and at the mall's Gucci store.

PARAMUS — The latest crackdown on groups of shoplifters at this New Jersey mall ended with an expensive crash, according to police.

On Thursday night, Paramus police arrested three men in the parking lot outside the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall. The trio was taken to Bergen County Jail.

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Tyron Hartfield, 37, of Irvington and Xavier Granger, 22, of Newark are both charged with third-degree conspiracy to commit theft and fourth-degree resisting arrest. Granger is also charged with fourth-degree obstruction.

The longest list of charges went to Shaquan Cuttino, 32, Newark, who officers say rammed a white Mercedes-Benz CLA 250 into a police vehicle. Cuttino is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree eluding, and several third-degree offenses, including three counts each of resisting arrest and criminal mischief, two counts of assault by auto, and one count of conspiracy to commit theft.

Police say Mercedes was linked to earlier robberies

Their arrests were the latest operation by the Paramus Police Department Crime Suppression Unit.

According to police, a CSU officer saw the white Mercedes idling in the parking lot of the Westfield Garden State Plaza on Thursday. The luxury sedan was connected with a robbery in Tenafly earlier that day. It was also linked to two robberies earlier this month at the mall's Gucci store.

The officers surrounded the Mercedes and ordered the three men inside to get out of the car, police said.

Driver accused of ramming police vehicles during arrest

Officials said that, instead, Cuttino stepped on the gas and rammed multiple police vehicles. The officers then ripped Cuttino out of the driver's seat and arrested him. Granger and Hartfield were also arrested.

One officer suffered an unspecified injury and was treated at the hospital.

It's the latest shoplifting arrest highlighted by Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti. Last month, two men were charged with stealing 23 pairs of socks and other soccer wear from the Marshalls at the Bergen Town Center ahead of the World Cup.

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