An alert golfer played the hero during a police chase that ended on the Maple Moor Golf Course in White Plains Monday night.
After noticing the man running from police in the woods nearby, the golfer took matters into his own hands, bringing the suspect to the ground and allowing officers to quickly make an arrest, said Kieran O'Leary, spokesperson for the Westchester County Police Department.
The suspect, 27-year-old Vaughn Henry of Nelson Ave. in the Bronx, turned out to be a fugitive wanted by United States Marshals on a 2008 warrant charging him with cocaine trafficking in West Virginia, O'Leary said.
The incident began at about 8 p.m. along the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway near the North Street bridge in Harrison. Westchester County Police Officer Emil Garcia had pulled over a BMW 745i when suddenly the driver ran from his vehicle onto the grounds of the golf course on the opposite side of the highway, O'Leary said.
As police surrounded the golf course, the golfer sprang into action and tackled Henry in a wooded area of the course, the spokesperson said. The golfer did not want to be identified.
Before trying to run, O'Leary said Henry gave Officer Garcia an Arizona diver's license with a different name. Fingerprints later revealed Henry's true identity and outstanding warrant, police say.
The BMW Henry was driving also had two cardboard boxes containing a total of 20 pounds of marijuana hidden in the trunk, O'Leary said.
Henry was charged with Criminal Possession of Marijuana in the first-degree—a felony—along with false personation and aggravated unlicensed operation, misdemeanors. He was arraigned Tuesday in Harrison Town Court and remanded to Westchester County Jail without bail.
O'Leary said Henry will be turned over to federal authorities to answer to the previous warrant after local charges are resolved.
