Manhunt on Prospect Hill

We had some excitement in the neighborhood a couple of nights ago. At midnight I heard some crunching noises and then intense sirens, I looked out the first floor front window to see police cars at the corner of our street, four houses away. Colette, looking out the second floor front window, saw a police officer chasing a man into the back yard of the house across the street. I went outside and walked to the corner, it immediately became apparent that there had been a high speed chase that ended (the vehicular part, anyway) when the fleeing car crashed into another car at the intersection. An officer told me that they were looking for someone with a gun and that I might want to go inside. The Police Blotter explained how it turned out in the next day's paper, they don't mention the condition of the man who was in the car that was hit at the intersection.

A Buffalo man who pled guilty to fatally shooting a bouncer in 1998 was one of three men arrested early this morning following a chase that ended with a crash on the city's West Side.

Luis Borea, 34, of Georgia Street, who faces weapons possession and other charges, was taken into custody just after midnight at Vermont and Niagara streets.

Borea, who's been on parole since September 2007, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he pled guilty to manslaughter in the March 1998 shooting death of Moises Colon in a Busti Avenue bar.

Central District police attempted to pull over a Honda Accord in the area of Normal Avenue and Connecticut Street after observing a man entering the car in an area known for drug activity this morning. The vehicle had switched plates, according to a police report.

Police activated their overhead lights and sirens when the car was on 14th Street, but the vehicle turned onto Vermont and began accelerating, authorities said.

The car then ran the stop sign at Vermont and Niagara, where it collided with another vehicle, police said.

The three men inside the car fled on foot, but were arrested a short distance away.

Borea was apprehended on Niagara Street, between Rhode Island Street and Massachusetts Avenue.

Richard C. Cruz, 23, of Baynes Street, and Emmanuel Tirado, 27, of Wakefield Avenue, were arrested in the backyard of a home on Columbus Parkway, between Vermont and Columbus Park.

Police recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun from the vehicle, according to reports.

A male inside the vehicle that was hit was taken to Erie County Medical Center with unknown injuries.

In addition to the charge of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, the trio faces first-degree reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration.

Officers Mark Cyrek, Stephen Mikac, Robert Eloff and Karen Quinn-Higgins were among the officers involved in the investigation and arrests.

Borea, who moved here from Puerto Rico in 1995, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the 1998 shooting and an unrelated weapons conviction.

Borea had been previously arrested in April 1996 when he and five other men were accused of firing at a man they were chasing down Busti. A half ounce of heroin was also found at the time, and the men faced drug-related charges.

Cruz was arrested in September for an August home invasion near Riverside Park. He was caught after a brief chase on Baynes Street on Sept. 7.

Tirado has previous convictions for disorderly conduct and drug possession.