On Saturday several readers reached out to First State Update asking with the police helicopter was circling over Wilmington.
Officials said on Saturday, May 3, 2025, at approximately 5:22 p.m., a Detective with the New Castle County Division of Police Mobile Enforcement Team attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a silver Kia Optima traveling near Bacon Avenue and Route 13 in New Castle. A routine registration check showed the vehicle was displaying an invalid tag. The driver, later identified as 19-year-old Antoine Crawley, fled the area at a high rate of speed.
Delaware State Police Aviation Unit Trooper 4, which was on patrol in the area, located the fleeing vehicle and tracked it to the 1000 block of River Road in Wilmington. Police said Crawley abandoned the car and fled on foot into the backyard of a nearby home. Officers established a perimeter, and Crawley was discovered hiding under a trampoline and taken into custody without further incident.
Authorities confirmed that the silver Kia Optima had been reported stolen from the City of Wilmington on April 28. Additional investigation linked Crawley to another vehicle theft earlier in April police said. He was also wanted by the New Castle County Division of Police in connection with that separate incident.
He was charged with multiple offenses including two felony counts of receiving stolen property valued over $1,500, two felony counts of disregarding a police officer’s signal, one felony count of possession of burglary tools, one felony count of possession of burglary tools involving disabling security systems, and one felony count of theft of a motor vehicle. Additional charges include two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, two misdemeanor counts of driving without a valid license, one misdemeanor count of reckless driving at 90 MPH or greater, and one misdemeanor count of theft under $1,500. The defendant also faces numerous traffic violations, including two counts of failure to stop at a red light, and one count each of display of license plate, improper lane change, failure to drive in the proper lane, failure to have lights on when required, careless driving, and improper backing.
Following arraignment by Justice of the Peace Court 11, Crawley was committed to the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in lieu of $19,500 cash bail.