Jan. 26, 2023 When NYPD officers spotted a suspect changing the license plate on a BMW, the car’s driver repeatedly slammed into police cruisers boxing him in and then struck an officer before escaping.
By Thomas Tracy Source New York Daily News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Police on Thursday released a new photo of a wanted driver they say struck an NYPD cop while escaping a Bronx car stop, police said.
The bearded suspect was behind the wheel of a BMW M5 on Loring Place North near W. 183rd St. in University Heights at 10:40 p.m. on Nov. 22 when cops noticed the man’s friend changing the license plate on the luxury car.
Suspecting the car was being used for a crime, the officers boxed in the BMW with their unmarked vehicles, cops said.
But as they approached the BMW, the man changing the plate jumped into the back seat and the man behind the wheel gunned the engine.
The driver repeatedly drove the BMW back and forth, slamming into the police cruisers both in front and behind him until he made an opening big enough to escape, cops said.
During the fray, the BMW driver screeched back into an approaching cop, injuring the officer’s right knee, before vaulting the curb and speeding down the sidewalk to escape, cops said.
The injured cop was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
Six unoccupied vehicles parked on Loring Place North were damaged in the escape, cops said. The heavily damaged BMW that fled the scene was found unoccupied about three miles away on White Plains Road and Morris Park Ave.
A few days after the harried escape, cops released images of the man seen swapping out the license plate and a side profile of the driver but no arrests were made.
Cops released the new clearer images of the driver in the hopes someone can identify him.
Anyone with information i asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.