A New Jersey house party turned into a terrifying, high-speed car chase for a group of teenagers — one that ended with a violent crash that left them hospitalized, and a volunteer firefighter facing charges.
Jonathan Battaglia limped into his lawyer’s office on crutches Thursday, out of the hospital but far from recovered. He, Kevin Trejos and three other friends were injured, some critically, when the car they were riding in was involved in a high-speed chase that ended when they struck a tree on Route 9W in Alpine.
That crash, their lawyer says, should never have happened.
"How could it rise to this level?" asked attorney Sam Davis. "There was alcohol, fireballs...vodka, beer and pot that lit the fuse for this disaster.”
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Davis represents four of the five Bergen County teens injured in the crash. He said they were at a friend's birthday party at a home in Alpine when a fight broke out between two other groups of teens. One of the individuals involved reportedly called friends for backup.
"When his gang arrived there was plenty of beer-muscle and rage in them," said Davis. "My kids knew immediately they needed to leave the party. It didn’t feel comfortable anymore."
As they left, they encountered 18-year-old Luke Stein, of Cresskill. The college student and volunteer firefighter allegedly pursued them down Route 9W in his Jeep at speeds of over 100 MPH, along with two other vehicles. With his blue emergency lights flashing, Stein rear-ended the Honda Pilot twice before the driver, Mikel Legueb, took off and crashed, according to the teens' attorney.
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"He weaponized that blue flashing light and for that there should be consequences on many lives," said Davis.
Sixteen-year-old Ariana Grant spent nine days in the hospital, and her father could still vividly remember those first traumatic moments.
“In intensive care, holding her down so her fractured spine wouldn't crack as they drained her lungs to stabilize her," Evan Grant recalled.
Another girl, Amir Arburus' daughter Latil, is still in the hospital.
"She had to go to face reconstruction, they had to wire shut her mouth, she broke her ribs," Arburus said.
Stein was arrested in Colorado a week later, and charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer. The teens say they have all been traumatized.
"As a parent, you never think your child is going to a birthday party to succumb to that kind of violence," said Sean Battaglia, father of Jonathan.
The owners of the house where the party was held, as well as those who were in the three vehicles that chased the teens at high speeds, were named in the lawsuit. Stein, who is said to have instigated the chase, went home immediately afterward — and reportedly got an emergency dispatch about the incident, then responded to the scene. He never indicated that he had anything to do with the car that was wrapped around the tree.
Attorney information for Stein was not immediately available.
