Collegeville Man Arrested After Police Chase in Norristown

Written by Nicole Foulke.

A man who recently lived in Collegeville was arrested after allegedly attempting to evade a police officer and running stop signs, as he drove a vehicle that may have earlier been involved with stolen assault rifles, police say.  

On Thursday around 11:22 a.m. a Norristown police officer was on patrol in a marked police vehicle around the area of Astor Street and Airy Street when he saw a blue Dodge Charger moving in an alleyway behind the Fairmount Firehouse, according to a Norristown police report.

Earlier on, police had been informed that a blue Charger had possibly been involved with stolen AR15 assault rifles in Norristown.

The man driving the Charger, Donald Maxwell, has a suspended license, a criminal history, and had been shot at one point, according to the report. Maxwell currently lives in Norristown, according to online court documents.

The officer saw that the vehicle had dark, post-market tint on all its four windows, a vehicle code violation.

The officer noticed that the Charger’s tag was the same tag as the blue Charger he had been informed of earlier. The officer had not yet turned his police lights on but noted that the driver seemed to be trying to evade him by driving fast and quickly turning onto Chain Street, police say.

According to the officer the driver did not stop the vehicle as was required by law before turning into Chain Street, and the officer then initiated his lights and siren to try to commence a traffic stop.

The Charger accelerated and sped off on Chain Street, driving through a stop sign at Chain and Elm Streets, and failing to stop at other stop signs, amidst many people in the area.        

The driver drove the Charger into a dead end on Chain Street, where he abandoned the vehicle and tried to escape on foot. Other officers nabbed him less than one block away, say police.

The officer pursuing him in the vehicle went to the 700 block of Astor Street where his colleagues had the man in custody, and identified him as the same man who had driven the blue Charger.    

According to online court documents, Maxwell faces charges of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked, duties at stop signs and other charges.

He was taken to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on Thursday in lieu of posting $100,000, according to court documents.

While living in Collegeville, Maxwell was charged with possessing controlled substances,