Basking Ridge convict found guilty after violent police chase with stolen car

⚖️ A Somerset County jury convicted a Basking Ridge man of serious charges stemming from a violent police chase that left an officer hurt.
🚓 Prosecutors say the convict used a stolen car as a weapon, crashed into a house, and fled before being caught hiding in a crawl space.
⛓️ Due to his record, the 39-year-old faces a possible term of up to 83 years in prison.

SOMERVILLE — A Somerset County man with a criminal record faces decades in prison, after being convicted of offenses from a wild, armed police chase in which he struck an officer with a stolen car.

On Dec. 11, Brian Niziolek, of Basking Ridge, was found guilty by a Somerset County jury on nine counts, including aggravated assault, eluding, and burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, all second-degree offenses.

Jury convicts on nine charges tied to stolen car and weapons

Based on his criminal history as a “persistent offender,” the 39-year-old Niziolek would face an enhanced term of up to 83 years in prison, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said.

His full conviction by a jury after a two-week trial included the following counts:

🔴second-degree aggravated assault
🔴second-degree eluding
🔴second-degree burglary while armed with a deadly weapon
🔴second-degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm
🔴second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun
🔴third-degree aggravated assault (causing bodily injury to a law enforcement officer)
🔴third-degree resisting arrest
🔴fourth-degree unlawful possession of a high-capacity ammunition magazine
🔴fourth-degree unlawful possession of a knife

Police chase through Manville ends with officer injured

On June 29, 2023, Manville police were called to respond to a stolen vehicle, and found Niziolek at the wheel along Pope Street.

They got out of their patrol car and walked toward Niziolek, who aimed at one of the officers and sped up, hitting the victim in the hip and arm and ramming the officer against his own vehicle.

Niziolek then took off, with police in pursuit, speeding down the local streets above 60 miles an hour and heading the wrong way down a one-way street.

Niziolek ran, hid in crawl space before arrest

He crashed into a vehicle and then a house on North 5th Avenue, leaving the car and running to an apartment building on Brooks Boulevard.

Manville police, backed by officers from Bridgewater, Hillsborough, and a Somerset County Sheriff’s Department K9 Unit, surrounded the building, entered its basement, and found Niziolek hiding in a crawl space.

Read More: NJ man tried to kill Manville cop before intense chase, cops say

Prosecutors cite disturbing statements made after arrest

During the trial, prosecutors shared disturbing testimony, quoting Niziolek after he was pulled from that crawl space and handcuffed over two years ago.

He told arresting officers that he “hated” police; that police “need to die”; that he would “kill any cop I see from now on,” and “every time a cop gets shot in the face or shot anywhere, and especially if they die, I throw a party with all my friends.”

“We get drinks, food, smoke weed, we watch the videos of the f****** ass cop getting shot, couple times, have a few laughs. I laugh when they get shot. The funniest thing would be if a mother****** pulled a gun on one of y’all ****** and made you cry and they shot you in the face.”

A search of the stolen car also recovered an illegal, MAC-11 type 9mm semi-automatic assault firearm, an illegal high-capacity ammunition magazine containing 30 rounds, and a bullet-proof vest.

The jury deliberated for just six hours before returning their verdict of guilty on nine counts.

On Dec. 12, he waived his right to a jury trial on the second-degree charge of certain persons not to possess firearms — he was convicted on that, as well.

Niziolek has several prior convictions including sexual assault, aggravated assault, drug offenses, unlawful possession of a handgun, and obstruction, state records show.

He was released from prison in November 2022, about seven months before this series of events led to his being arrested in June 2023.

Sentencing for his recent conviction was set for Jan. 26, 2026.

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