Did the luck of the Irish pull friends through police chase?

The dark-red SUV exited the Northway and swung onto Ballard Road, a police car in pursuit.

After being forced to come to a halt at a railroad crossing to allow a speeding train to pass, the man inside the SUV kept an eye on the passing train that was blocking his escape route.

Another eye followed the pair of officers who exited their squad car and were fast approaching the van on foot.

A few miles away, Niall Roche sat inside a silver Toyota Camry, his father, Billy, and his brother-in-law, Patrick, along for the ride.

Billy and Patrick had made the journey from their native Ireland to visit Roche, his wife, Nikki, and the couple's 22-month-old daughter at their new home in Saratoga Springs.

Roche was working in New York City when he got the chance to relocate his family upstate last spring.

"This seemed to us like a nice neighborhood in a nice town," Roche said. "That day, we were leisurely driving on our way home.

"The funny thing is that 20 seconds before it happened, my father was commenting on how courteous and polite the drivers here are," Roche said about the day two weeks ago when the three men navigated their vehicle onto East Avenue, right into the middle of a police chase.

At the Ballard Road railroad crossing a few miles away, a police officer fired two shots at the man in the SUV, missing his target. The SUV's driver pushed down on his gas pedal, burst through the gates of the crossing and turned onto Route 50, speeding toward the mall.

Alerted to the pursuit of the suspected armed bank robber, more than a dozen other police cars joined in the chase, which zoomed past the mall and toward the city of Saratoga Springs.

Inside the Camry, Roche watched the traffic light above the Route 50 intersection turn to green.

On the left horizon stood the Covell Avenue ridge. On the right was a small billboard with an arrow pointing to the Gateway Motel. Their car rolled forward.

There was the green light, then -- "bang," Roche recalled.

"I saw the SUV doing a roll on its roof and all of a sudden all these squad cars were zooming past us. There were cops everywhere," he remembered. "They told us to stay in the car and not to move. We were in shock. At that point, you think, 'What the hell just happened?' "

The police captured the suspected bank robber, and besides sustaining some minor injuries, Roche, his father and brother-in-law seemed none the worse after the ordeal.

"It could have been a lot worse. We feel pretty lucky," said Roche, who may have been graced by the luck of the Irish at holiday time.

He said he plans on opening a new pub, which he will call Irish Times, on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs on St. Patrick's Day.

published in The Post-Star, Friday, Jan. 2, 2009
Thomas Dimopoulos may be reached at tdimopoulos@poststar.com