NIAGARA FALLS – A Niagara Falls teenager who tried to flee on foot following a two car crash at 18th Street and Cleveland Avenue was caught by city police after several witnesses pointed out the suspect at 9:21 a.m. Tuesday running across Niagara Avenue towards Ontario Avenue.
An officer heading to the scene spotted the suspect, Darnell J. Belton Jr., 17 of Whitney Avenue running from the scene and said he refused an order to stop. Police followed footprints to a rear porch in the 1800 block of Ontario Avenue and Belton was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a license, resisting arrest, unreasonable speed and failure to keep right.
Witnesses said it appeared that a car being driven by Belton entered into the opposite lane of traffic, striking the victim’s vehicle.
The victim, Joshua Walton, of Youngstown, told police he had just dropped off a passenger and was pulling away from the curb when a white car traveling at a high rate of speed entered his lane and struck his van head on. Walton was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center with neck pain.