A drunken driver stopped right in the middle of the Queens Midtown Tunnel early Sunday, and when a cop went to investigate, he took off, leading officers on a high-speed chase, police said.
Ryan Baksh, 30, of Queens Village halted his 2005 Honda Civic in the center of the Manhattan-bound tunnel at 1:15 a.m., sources said. Bridge and Tunnel Officer Tyrone Pringle was on foot patrol and approached the vehicle to see if Baksh needed help, sources said.
Smelling a strong odor of alcohol and noting that the driver’s speech was slurred, Pringle asked for Baksh’s license and called the stop in on his radio, using the code for Driving While Intoxicated. At that point, the driver grabbed the officer’s arm in an attempt to snatch back his license while flooring the gas, the sources said.
Fortunately for Pringle, the car was in park. When the driver figured out the problem, he threw the car in drive and took off, the sources said. By then, the officer had freed his arm.
Officer Adam Roman was on the Queens side of the tunnel and pursued the car through the tunnel, boxing Baksh in when he exited the tunnel on the Manhattan side.
Officers Kevin Yeninas, Ticel Howard, Joseph Marchese and Wayne Joseph all helped in the pursuit. It took three of them to subdue Baksh, who was combative and uncooperative, the sources said.
Baksh was charged with DWI and reckless endangerment, obstruction of government administration and failure to take a breath test, police said.