Anthony Friel appears via video at his detention hearing.
A Lower Township man's alleged getaway drive via the Atlantic City Boardwalk was the result of a heroin relapse after 13 years clean, his attorney told the judge Tuesday.
Anthony Friel, 49, of the Villas, appeared to be sleeping while behind the wheel of his car in the lane of travel at Arkansas and Atlantic avenues.
When police approached, he woke up and sped off, eventually breaking a barrier at the Boardwalk entrance at Arkansas Avenue, driving down the Boardwalk "at a high rate of seed nealy missing countless pedestrians, adult and children, and (putting) them at serious risk," Assistant Prosecutor Erin Curtiss told the judge.
Friel then broke through another Boardwalk barrier, eluding a different set of officers and heading out through the Atlantic City Expressway, according to the charges.
Officers then saw Friel return to the city, now driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic, according to the charges.
He ended up fleeing the car on foot, and had to be tased to get him into custody, Curtiss said. Six folds of suspected heroin were taken from him.
Friel had no recollection of the incident due to his relapse, defense attorney Brooke Zelig said.
This was not the first time Friel fled at car stop at a high rate of speed. In 2011, he injured three people after fleeing Wildwood police trying to top him from running a stop sign, court records show.
One of the victims lost both legs.
Friel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aggravated assault in that case. He served four other sentences, with the shortest one 90 days.
He also has a criminal history in New York, Vermont and North Carolina, according to information provided at his detention hearing.
The public safety assessment recommended he be released. But Superior Court Judge Pam D'Arcy agreed with the prosecution that the assessment did not take the entire case into consideration.
Friel will remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
