A hero hack helped cops nail a drunken hit-and-run driver who mowed down a man in The Bronx on Sunday, calling 911 and then tailing the suspect for seven miles until police could set up a roadblock to stop him, authorities said.
The cabby was driving near the Bronx Zoo when he spotted a Kia Sorento slam into a 21-year-old pedestrian crossing the street near the corner of East 181st Street and Southern Boulevard in West Farms around 2 a.m., police said.
The 40-year-old Kia driver, Mohamed Fofana, continued tearing up Southern Boulevard, leaving the injured pedestrian writhing in pain in the middle of the street, according to authorities.
The cabby jumped into action, trailing the heartless motorist on Southern Boulevard and past the zoo before taking a right on East Fordham Road and driving through the New York Botanical Gardens.
As he was pursuing the SUV through the park, the cab driver dialed 911 and told police about the crash and the injured man back at the scene while also updating them on the suspect’s location, authorities explained.
The cabby’s approximately 7-mile-long chase of the perp continued up Boston Post Road and came to an end near the Westchester County line.
The cops had used the good Samaritan’s information to set up a roadblock to catch Fofana when his vehicle came out of the park.
When cops approached the suspect’s vehicle, the stench of booze immediately hit them, police said. Fofana tried to blather incoherently at them with bloodshot, watery eyes, cops reported.
The officers then pulled the man out of the vehicle and handcuffed him as he struggled to stand upright and continued slurring, according to police. Fofana was then carted off to the local station house, where he was later charged with drunken driving, vehicular assault, driving without a license and leaving the scene of an accident.
The man he hit was listed in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.
It wasn’t Fofana’s first offense behind the wheel, police reports show.
Cops arrested him in March of 2011 for driving drunk and without a license when they pulled him over while swerving through The Bronx. Before that, he was caught driving with a phony license in July 2010 and December 2008.
He also has a case pending from last month, when he was charged with menacing and weapons-possession charges.
He was awaiting arraignment Sunday evening.
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast