Suspect Arrested After Clipping Several Cars While Fleeing Police In Midtown
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A suspect is in custody after allegedly clipping several cars while fleeing police in Manhattan.
Police took the driver into custody Tuesday afternoon, moving him from a beat up black Mercedes to the back of an NYPD cruiser on Randall's Island - about seven miles from where the search began.
"I drive around Manhattan every day and it takes 20 minutes to go two blocks. The fact he got out of the city is pretty surprising," Rick Hosing said.
Sources tell CBS2 around 1 p.m. the suspect was trying to shoplift from Bergdorf Goodman on 58th Street and Fifth Avenue. When he walked out of the store, three NYPD officers came up to him so the suspect got in his car parked nearby and drove off eastbound on 58th Street.
The suspect sideswiped at least three other cars, including Jose Santana's, during the escape.
"I wasn't parked, I was driving in the middle of the road," Santana told CBS2's Ali Bauman.
Santana pulled over to check his now crumpled mirror and dented doors and saw several officers trying to stop the suspect.
Police say the fleeing driver did not hit any pedestrians, but we all know how crowded Midtown gets during the day and witnesses tells CBS2 that the car sideswiped a row of bicycles and nearly hit several people in the crosswalk.
"The guy didn't care, he ran the light, he didn't care who was there," one pedestrian added.
The driver was arrested about an hour later. Police say he will likely face numerous charges including reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and attempted assault on an officer.
