Updated: Two Arrested In Bath Beach After Wild Verrazano Bridge Chase [Video]

Two men were apprehended in Bath Beach today after leading New Jersey police on a dramatic chase through Staten Island and across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The men, as least one of whom is believed to be wanted by U.S. Marshalls for an armed robbery in the Sunshine State and dangerous, were arrested at 14th Avenue and Cropsey Avenue, according to the Staten Island Advance.

A helicopter from NBC New York caught at least six squad cars chasing the blue getaway vehicle, weaving in and out of traffic, sirens blaring, until the suspects crashed on the Brooklyn side of the bridge at around 2pm.

NBC reports:

The runaway car wove to either side of the road as it tried to evade the police cars and managed to separate from the cruisers for a moment on the Brooklyn side of the span before police caught up. A police car hit the speeding getaway car from behind and the getaway vehicle corrected course and kept moving. Chopper 4 showed the getaway car and the law enforcement vehicles speed past other cars in the neighborhood, including ones stopped at a traffic light, before they crashed.

After the collision, the driver of the car, who was wearing a red shirt, tried to flee the car on foot, making it to Bay 7th Street before cops caught up with him, witnesses told us.

Police asked MTA Bridges and Tunnels officers to close down the eastbound lane of the bridge, but a spokesperson told DNAinfo that there wasn’t enough time, and the getaway car found a way around the blockade they had set up. At least one Port Authority officer was injured in the chase, though he is expected to recover, reports NBC.

The men are expected to be transported to the 121st Precinct in Staten Island, where they will be charged.

Local politicians praised the arrests on social media today:

Update (9pm): We’ve added footage of the car chase above, via NBC New York.

Update (February 25): The driver of the car has been identified as Anthony Mazza, 41, who had failed to appear to a sentencing for aggravated assault in Old Bridge, N.J., the New York Daily News reports:

Mazza was charged with eluding and assault on police for injuring the two PAPD officers in the struck cruiser, and the passenger is likely to be charged with obstruction, a U.S. Marshals spokesman said.