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Officer injured after driver jumps Manhattan sidewalk, speeds off, eyewitness video shows
By
Catalina Gonella
and
Elizabeth Shwe
Published Apr 19, 2023
Modified Apr 19, 2023
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Catalina Gonella
By
Catalina Gonella
and
Elizabeth Shwe
Published Apr 19, 2023
Modified Apr 19, 2023
Share
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One NYPD officer was injured, police said, after an erratic driver rammed into multiple officers in Midtown before jumping the curb and speeding off, according to eyewitness accounts.
The NYPD told the public to avoid 30th Street from Third to Fifth avenues in the Kips Bay area of Manhattan just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, where police said one officer sustained a head injury, but was in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital. Eyewitnesses at the scene shared video of the incident with Gothamist, which showed a black car hitting the officer in reverse before driving straight onto the sidewalk and wrecking an outdoor dining structure in the process. Additional video posted online also shows the car speeding away after driving on the sidewalk.
Police conducted a traffic stop at 38th Street and Seventh Avenue around 4:50 p.m., when the driver fled, the NYPD said. Officers put out a description of the black Cadillac sedan over the radio and responding officers spotted it at 30th Street and Madison Avenue, where they tried to stop it again, cops said.
The driver fled again, striking an officer and an outdoor dining structure in the process, the NYPD said. The driver then started to flee on foot around 31st Street and Lexington Avenue, police said. He was still on the loose as of 9:24 p.m. on Wednesday, cops said.
There were no other injuries, according to police.
"One of the cops was injured pretty bad," said Alfredo Mota, a Washington Heights resident who was behind the car when the altercation began.
Mota said he left his car and moved over to the sidewalk for safety as things escalated. He was not injured.
"[The officer] tried to stop the car. The guy backed into the cop, he had a broken leg. He hit his head ... and he was bleeding a lot from the back of his head."
Warning: the following video includes profane language and violence.
Mota shared video from the scene with Gothamist, showing officers frantically attempting to break into the driver's side window of the black sedan before it backed into two police cops, sending one onto the pavement in visible distress. The car then peels onto the nearby sidewalk and speeds off.
"It's something very sad to see," Mota said. "When you're watching something like that, to see what the world has come to, to all this violence and the necessity of living like this, it's an unfortunate sight in such a beautiful world for this to be happening in our world, to be honest."
Patrick Beverly, who works nearby as a bartender at Mason Jar NYC on East 30th Street, said he heard a rumble noise outside, and headed out to take a look as the ruckus unfolded.
"He plowed through the neighboring restaurant's outdoor facility. Steel, plexiglass, glass everywhere," Beverly said. "Fortunately, no one was sitting down."
Beverly continued, "It's wild. You see it on the news every day. You never expect it to come to your own personal reality. It was very surprising."
Tagged
public safety
manhattan
Catalina Gonella
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Elizabeth Shwe
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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