The Union County Prosecutor’s Office says a driver being pursued by police through two towns died when his vehicle crashed into a tree.

Details about what prompted the chase have not yet been disclosed by officials.

Prosecutors say the chase began late Tuesday in Edison and eventually went into Plainfield, where the crash occurred a short time later on the 800 block of Woodland Avenue.

“I heard screeching tires and the sirens...so we looked out the window just in time to hear the bang,” says witness Sterling West.

News 12 New Jersey was given surveillance video of the crash. Witnesses say that the crash happened very fast.

“To be awakened by something so horrific, it’s going to shake everyone up,” says neighbor Marvin Palmer. “The car was still smoldering…the tree was up the dashboard.”

The driver, 30-year-old Dem-Quan Royal of Plainfield, was alone in the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses say that a police officer tried to revive Royal, but to no avail.

“He finally got the door [open]. By then other police officers arrived. They got him out and brought him here and gave him resuscitations…they worked on him and worked on him,” West says.

No officers were injured in the pursuit.

Royal’s friends and family members set up a memorial at the crash site.