Driver Hits Taxi, Jumps Curb After Police Chase On Upper West Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A police chase on the Upper West Side ended Tuesday evening when a car jumped the curb and ended up on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant.
As 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported, police said they first pulled over the driver for running a red light at 64th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. They said they wanted to question him for what looked like drugs in the vehicle, but he took off.
Police said they later saw the driver parked on 68th Street and Columbus Avenue, and when they walked over to the black car, they said the driver took off again and caused an accident.
A witness, Samir Cherrat, said the car nearly hit him when it jumped the curb.
"It was so fast – it hit the bikes over here, and then it ended up hitting the taxicab," he said.
The driver of the cab said the suspect bolted through and struck his vehicle.
"I went through the green light. The guy from the west side to east," said cab driver Amargit Singh Pabla. "He hit my car."
After hitting the taxi, the car ended up in the sidewalk, taking out a pole in front of Il Violino restaurant where Cherrat is a waiter. Police said the driver took off and ran.
"I was sitting in my living room and I heard: 'Get down on your knees! Freeze!'" said another witness, neighborhood resident Jose Cardona.
The driver was handcuffed and taken into custody on 69th Street, witnesses said. No one was hurt.