Wild car chase on West Side Highway ends with multiple vehicles damaged; "It felt like a movie"
NEW YORK -- There are questions surrounding a car chase that left an officer injured and several cars damaged on Monday afternoon.
The incident spanned dozens of blocks during rush hour traffic from the Garment District to the Upper West Side.
It was a chaotic scene during rush hour on the West Side Highway.
"Sitting in the exit ramp waiting for the traffic to move and you just hear the impact," said Luigi Deschamps, whose car was damaged.
Deschamps' car was one of several hit by the driver of a white BMW on the northbound West 79th Street exit.
"He was hitting like dominoes, like five cars at the same time. He kept going back and forth and back and forth," car passenger Yaslynn Rivera said.
Police said it all started when officers tried to pull over the BMW at 34th Street and Ninth Avenue. That suspect took off and drove up the West Side Highway. Sources told CBS2 no shots were fired, but it appears there were bullet holes in the vehicle. At West 79th Street, he decided to take off.
"They were trailing him, so it was a scene like out of 'Grand Theft Auto,' like seven cars trailing after him. And then all of the cars that he hit kind of started running towards him, too. It was pretty crazy. It felt like a movie," Rivera said.
But that driver didn't get far. He left his bullet-riddled car on the exit ramp.
"The driver ran. He ran down the exit," Elliott Loving said.
"Literally, he went down here and he went to the park," Deschamps added.
Chopper 2 was over the scene and showed car after car hit, leaving drivers in fear.
"I just stayed in the car. I didn't want to get out," Loving said.
One officer is recovering from an injury to the foot, and, thankfully, no one else was hurt.
Police said they pulled the car over when a check determined the plates did not match the registration. In total, three people were taken into custody.