Two cops were hurt and a small child was nearly killed after a 35-year-old man in a Mercedes Benz sped away from police, sparking a harrowing pursuit through the Bronx, police said Friday.
After witnessing the driver commit numerous traffic violations, cops pulled over the man’s Mercedes near the corner of W. 183rd St. and Aqueduct Ave. East at about 10:50 p.m. Thursday, cops said.
The Mercedes driver pulled over, but once cops got out of their cruiser and approached his luxury car on foot, he put his car into reverse, slammed into the unmarked police car, and charged off.
As the Mercedes sped away, it narrowly missed an adult and a small child standing nearby, cops said.
The officers put out a description of the Mercedes on the radio. A short time later, another pair of cops spotted the fleeing vehicle about a mile away on East Fordham Road and Marion Ave.
Two cops in another police cruiser picked up the pursuit, but ended up in a crash with the Mercedes driver, cops said. The officers were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries.
The 35-year-old speedster was taken into custody. Criminal charges were pending.
The crash came just hours after police were involved in a wild pursuit with a New Jersey kidnapping suspect on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.
Cops spotted the 25-year-old suspect, who was accused of kidnapping his girlfriend, at about 3:15 p.m. Thursday as he came over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island, cops said.
They stopped the suspect near the Cropsey Ave. exit, but not before a high-speed pursuit resulted in multiple car crashes on the highway, including one collision involving an NYPD patrol car, said police.
Five police officers were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, cops said.
Officers found a woman in the suspect’s car, but it was not immediately clear if she was the kidnapping victim. Charges against the New Jersey driver were pending.
Last year, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch revamped the NYPD’s policy on police chases that allow pursuits only when a felony crime or a violent misdemeanor is committed.
The new guidelines were put into effect amid rampant criticism over the last few years that the department routinely engages in unnecessary police pursuits that lead to crashes and injure other motorists and pedestrians.
Instead of following fleeing drivers responsible for traffic violations, the department will rely on “advanced tools of modern-day policing” to track down and apprehend the suspects, Tisch ordered.
Police already utilize varying tracking techniques, including the use of drones and GPS trackers that can be fired and affixed to a fleeing vehicle.