A heavily-damaged truck that was allegedly stolen at the Saranac Lake Stewart’s Shops is seen being loaded onto a tow truck at 2192 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid — the former CrossFit Lake Placid building shortly after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. The truck drove off the road and crashed, resulting in property damage to the building’s siding, multiple business and traffic signs. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

LAKE PLACID — A Troy man was arrested Tuesday evening after allegedly stealing a truck at the Saranac Lake Stewart’s Shops and fleeing to Lake Placid, causing a police pursuit before crashing into a building.

Brian C. Genthner, 46, was charged with third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, unauthorized use of a vehicle: without owner permission, reckless driving, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and first-offense driving while intoxicated, all misdemeanors, according to State Police, who stated that additional charges from the Saranac Lake Police Department may be pending.

At approximately 7:53 p.m. Tuesday, State Police were notified of a possible stolen vehicle complaint originating from the Saranac Lake Village Police Department, with the suspect fleeing toward Broadway from the Stewart’s Shops on Bloomingdale Avenue.

A vehicle matching the description — a 2019 red Ford Super Duty pickup — was seen traveling east on state Route 86 in the town of North Elba. Troopers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the operator failed to comply, leading to a pursuit that continued for approximately two miles, according to State Police.

The vehicle ultimately lost control and exited the roadway around 8 p.m., resulting in heavy vehicle wreckage and collateral structural and sign damage at 2192 Saranac Ave., the former CrossFit Lake Placid, as well as sign damage to the 2182 Saranac Ave. property. Several traffic signs were also damaged.

Genthner was ordered out of the vehicle and arrested at 8:11 p.m. by members of the Lake Placid Police Department with assistance from State Police. The defendant was then transported by the Lake Placid Volunteer Ambulance Service to Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake for non-life-threatening injuries.

There were no injuries to law enforcement, first responders, other motorists and pedestrians along the pursuit route.

While being interviewed, Genthner displayed signs of impairment and refused to submit to standardized field sobriety tests, according to State Police. The defendant was arrested and transported to the NYSP Troop B Headquarters in Ray Brook for processing. He was released on appearance tickets returnable to the North Elba Town Court at a later date in October and was then turned over to the Saranac Lake Police Department, according to State Police.

Visible tire tracks indicated the vehicle was traveling eastbound on Saranac Avenue when it exited the roadway just east of the McDonald’s exit driveway. It then appeared to travel east across the lawn in front of the 2182 Saranac Ave. property, where it collided with and destroyed the business sign’s road-facing post.

The vehicle then appeared to continue across Wesvalley Road and onto the lawn at 2182 Saranac Ave., where it obliterated that business sign before continuing into the parking lot and ultimately crashing into the building, where it caused damage to its siding.

Johanna Sherman, who lives in Lake Placid, was driving on Wesvalley Road toward Saranac Avenue shortly after the crash occurred, but before the scene was secured.

“I must have driven through within 45 seconds to a minute after he crashed,” she said. “There were two cop cars, maybe three, when I drove through. No flares in the road, guns were drawn and there’s an intersection right there, so I had no idea what to do. It was crazy.”

Sherman, who was driving to the Stewart’s Shops on Saranac Avenue with a friend to get ice cream, said it was jarring — especially for an idyllic community like Lake Placid, where such crime and violence is uncommon.

“One of the officers with their gun drawn was literally motioning and yelling, ‘move, move, move,’ for people to get away,” she said.

Sherman added that the incident has made her think twice to make sure her keys are on her after parking going forward.

“I just went to Stewart’s (Wednesday morning) to get a cup of coffee,” she said. “I had to manually think, ‘OK, take your keys with you.'”

Though Sherman said it was unfortunate how much property damage was sustained and the repair costs that will arise from that, she noted it was incredibly fortunate that there were no other injuries, given how busy of an area that the alleged theft, pursuit and crash all occurred in. She added that if it were an active CrossFit or other business, the what-was-empty parking lot when the crash occurred may have been filled with other cars and people walking to and from the building.

“I don’t know what a typical CrossFit gym schedule is, but I would imagine that it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to have a later night class,” she said. “Just imagine the amount of potential damage, the amount of people potentially in the parking lot — I mean, if it’s 8 o’clock, it’s not like it’s a weird time (for people to be out), especially if it’s on the hour.

“In my opinion, it’s a miracle that nobody else was hurt,” she said.