Man crashes truck, tries to steal 3 vehicles

After the suspect crashed his pickup through a fence in Harmans and it stalled on a set of railroad tracks, he needed a new ride.

He tried four times in a matter of minutes to get one.

He might have gotten away with stealing one, too, if not for an Amtrak train, police said. While traveling 110 mph, the locomotive struck the silver Dodge pickup - which police said had stalled on the tracks behind the 1400 block of Railroad Avenue about 5:30 p.m. Saturday - and drew the attention of Aubrey Jordan.

Jordan, 32, was inside her apartment in the 1400 block of Railroad Avenue when she heard a loud bang. At first, she didn't think much of it.

"Trains come through here all the time, and because of all the construction that goes on around here, I'm used to the loud noise," she said.

When she noticed the train had slowed down, she decided to have a look. Jordan said she looked outside and saw a man behind the steering wheel of her parked Hyundai sport utility vehicle with the door closed.

"It happened so fast," Jordan said. "I made it about halfway down the stairs and that's when I really started screaming for him to get out. I was scared out of my mind."

She said the man jumped right out of her SUV.

"He said he thought it was his," she said.

Police said the man had attempted to break the steering column and steal the Hyundai.

Still no luck

As Jordan ran back inside, the man walked into a business next door, said Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman. The man pulled out a knife and threatened an employee inside the business, saying he would stab him if he didn't hand over his car keys.

The 28-year-old employee told the man he didn't have any keys and ran away, police said.

Jordan said she ran into the employee outside.

"I was asking him if he knew who that (man) was," Jordan said. "That's when we saw the truck on the tracks. The whole front end was pushed into the side. I ran into the house and called police."

Officers arrived and began searching the area for the driver of the crushed truck.

As police searched, a 33-year-old man walked up and said a man had tried to steal his wife's Chevy Trailblazer in the 1400 block of Railroad Avenue. He said he saw the suspect in the Chevy on the driver's side. When the man noticed he'd been spotted, he ran away and cut through a wooded area to Dorsey Avenue.

Officers said they saw the man running near Aviation Boulevard and stopped him for questioning. Just then, a 61-year-old man and 57-year-old woman pulled up in a Volkswagen and told officers the suspect had tried to carjack them, Mulcahy said.

The man and woman were driving on Dorsey Avenue when the man jumped in front of their car, they said.

"The suspect tried to force the front and rear driver's side doors open several times," Mulcahy said. "He also tried to reach inside an open window to get in."

But he struck out for a fourth time.

The couple, Jordan and two other victims were brought to the area where police had stopped the suspect and identified the man.

Charges filed

Gary Eugene Ensor, 43, of 1310 Conewago Ave. in Manchester, Pa., was charged with attempted armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault, possession of a deadly weapon, attempted theft over $100, three counts of attempted stolen auto, attempted carjacking, destruction of property, and possession of drug paraphernalia and suspected cocaine, Mulcahy said.

He is being held without bond at the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Parole, according to electronic court records.

The side of the crushed truck Ensor allegedly left on the railroad tracks advertised for Manchester-based Gary Ensor Remodeling, "Quality Windows To Fit Your Budget."

It is unknown at this time why Ensor was in Harmans on Saturday afternoon.

Walt Jernigan of Jernigan Concrete Pumping at 7470 Railroad Ave. said she returned to the business Saturday and saw a crushed pickup on the tracks. She said the back of the truck was full of windowpanes and debris.

"He was probably trying to dump it somewhere back here" before he crashed through the fence and landed on the railroad tracks, she said.

Police said there were no injuries.

Jernigan said she was upset about the crime spree, but glad no one was hurt.

"That's all that matters," she said. "Somebody could have been killed."

Jernigan Concrete Pumping employees said the Amtrak train conductor was told to continue down the tracks.

"That train goes 110 mph right here and it takes about 11/2 miles to come to a stop," said an employee who would identify himself only as Marty.

Jernigan said Amtrak officials arrived at the scene 45 minutes after the collision to clear the tracks and investigate. Amtrak officials could not be reached for comment.

Jordan said she was frightened to hear the suspect was armed with a knife.

"Thank God he didn't come after me," she said. "I don't know what I would have done."