BETHLEHEM — A routine traffic stop in the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 20, police say, led to a high-speed chase where the driver of the pursued car spun and almost hit the Bethlehem Police car following him.

Gino L. Cubello, 20, of New Scotland was charged on Aug. 31 with three misdemeanors: second-degree reckless endangerment; third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle; and fifth-degree criminal possession of property because, police say, the license plates were stolen from a Delmar residence.

He was also charged with numerous Vehicle and Traffic Law violations.

A release from the Bethlehem Police Department says events unfolded this way: At about 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 20, a Bethlehem officer saw a Mazda Miata with a headlight out traveling east on Delaware Avenue. When the officer tried to stop the sports car, the driver “fled in a reckless manner at a high rate of speed” into Albany.

With siren and emergency lights on, the officer followed the Miata through several side streets and parking lots while the Miata’s driver at one point spun the car around and almost hit the front of the police car. Cubello was not caught that morning.

After Bethlehem Police, with help from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Cubello on Wednesday, he was released on an appearance ticket to return to Bethlehem Town Court on Sept. 20 to answer the charges.