Suspect hit NYPD cars, sideswiped other vehicles during Manhattan pursuit, police say
A driver crashed into multiple vehicles and led police on a chase through Manhattan before being taken into custody Tuesday morning, according to the NYPD.
It started at around 6:40 a.m. when police responded to a collision on Park Avenue South near 23rd Street. Responding officers told the driver of a silver Hyundai SUV to pull over, but the driver took off.
Police say he drove to Union Square East, where he hit a police car. The pursuit continued back uptown where, according to police, he hit another police car at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.
The driver kept going, eventually driving east on 50th Street, where police say he sideswiped a number of other vehicles.
The suspect, 45, was stopped and taken into custody at 50th Street and Lexington Avenue who two police cruisers swerved to block the vehicle. Charges are pending.
"They were trying to get the guy out of the car, with their guns out," one witness said. "Then they grabbed him, and put him against the car, handcuffed him."
Remarkably, no one was seriously hurt.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Very scary. The guy hit all these cars, run away from there. He hit my car, another car," food cart vendor Sayed Hasimi said. "This guy was driving like crazy. He doesn't know what he's going to do."
Hasimi's van was damaged in the incident.
"In front of the Palace Hotel, I was parked right there," limousine driver Magdi Salama said. "I just opened door ... and this guy came, slammed my door slowly ... and he kept on going and he made big damage, and then run."
Salama says this incident will cost him financially, since he won't be able to drive clients until insurance pays for repairs.
"I'm feeling bad. This is my living," he said.
Several streets around 50th Street and Lexington were closed for hours Tuesday morning, but they have since reopened.
