Police Shoot Man After Chase Across Newark

A man in critical condition after being shot on his birthday by New Jersey police following a multi-town chase with multiple crashes in a stolen car is expected to face serious charges if he survives, authorities said.

The man, identified as 38-year-old Corey Bland, was in critical but stable condition Tuesday at University Hospital in Newark. Attorney General's spokesman Paul Loriquet said the chase began around 7:45 p.m. Monday when troopers patrolling Newark spotted in 2005 Audi with Pennsylvania license plates. The car had been reported stolen at gunpoint earlier in the day.

Loriquet said troopers followed him onto Interstate 78, but eventually gave up their pursuit because it was dangerous to other drivers. Later, though, police in Summit saw the car and followed it back into Newark, where troopers and local police there took over.

There, Loriquet said, the Audi plowed into first a State Police vehicle and then hit a Newark police car head-on.

As police approached him, Bland backed up then started driving toward a group of officers, who then opened fire. Bland traveled several more blocks, hitting several parked cars before crashing into the scaffolding on a building at the corner of 18th Avenue and Livingston Street around 10 p.m.

Loriquet said that's when police shot him again multiple times. Exactly how many times Bland was hit and how many officers fired are under investigation.

Several charges are expected to be filed against the Bland.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)