Woman carjacked at Hadley mall
By Dan O'Brien, Collegian Staff
September 20, 2005
HADLEY - A carjacking at the Hampshire Mall on Saturday night resulted in a high speed chase, which destroyed a woman's car and left two brothers facing a long list of criminal charges.
Hadley police say Amy Galant, 32, was uninjured after two men threatened her at gunpoint outside the Ground Round restaurant at 10:30 p.m. before driving away with her 2004 Mercedes convertible.
The incident occurred just after Galant, who is a mall employee, entered her car, police said. The suspects, who were reportedly wearing bandanas, allegedly opened both doors of the car and one put a BB gun to the victim's head. They allegedly pretended the BB gun was a handgun and told her they would "shoot if she called the police."
A friend of Galant witnessed the carjacking from her car in the parking lot. She then called police from her cell phone.
Within minutes, Sgt. Brian Ravish spotted the Mercedes driving westbound on Route 9. A chase ensued, as Ravish was joined by town and state police.
Ravish told reporters the car reached speeds between 80 and 100 mph as it drove without its headlights on. At one point, the car sideswiped a second vehicle on Route 9, before heading north on Middle St. (Route 47). No one in the second vehicle was injured, police said.
The car eventually rolled over on a patch of grass on 28 Middle St., just 25 feet from the front of a house, according to Hadley Police Chief Dennis Hukowicz.
Hukowicz says in his 30 years at the Hadley Police Dept., this carjacking is the "first one I recall."
"This is the only one in my recent memory," he said.
Gallant's pocketbook was recovered from the vehicle, but the car was completely destroyed, police said.
Police identified the driver as Azmir Perez, 20, of 256 Main St., Amherst and the passenger as his brother, Bryant Velez, 17, of 30 Gatehouse Rd. in Belchertown. Perez was tackled by a police officer at the scene, while Bryant was tracked down by state police dogs, hiding underneath a parked vehicle on nearby Newton Lane.
Both suspects received medical attention before being placed in jail. Perez is currently being held on $10,000 bail and Velez's bail is set at $5,000. They were arraigned yesterday at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Hadley.
The men faced a long list of charges, including: carjacking, armed robbery while masked, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and possession of burglary tools. Perez, the driver, faced additional charges, which were assault with a dangerous weapon (handgun), failure to stop for police, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm without a permit, destruction of property and intimidation of a witness.
A "not guilty" plea was entered for each of the suspects.
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Copyright Daniel O�Brien and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. This article may not be redistributed without written permission under United States law.