Wild video shows NYC ‘ghost cab’ driver with hostages inside lead cops on Midtown Tunnel chase
A wanted man posing as a for-hire driver with three women in his cab nearly mowed down cops during a rush-hour chase through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, authorities said Friday.
Wild video shows officers surrounding the Jeep Grand Cherokee to block it inside the East River crossing as the motorist desperately tried to escape — and his distressed hostages hysterically cried inside.
The chase began just after 9 a.m. Wednesday when an officer with the MTA Police Department tried to pull over the driver on the Queens side of the tunnel as part of an investigation targeting “ghost vehicles” — or cars with bogus registrations, according to officials.
Instead, the 33-year-old driver slammed on the brakes and swerved around half a dozen uniformed cops standing in the traffic lane and through the mouth of the tunnel — hours before the crossing sprung a major leak.
“The Jeep drove over a line of traffic cones and forced other task force officers conducting enforcement to scatter from the path of the oncoming SUV,” the NYPD said in a statement.
Several officers pursued the driver and weaved around other commuters caught in the mayhem, the footage, taken by a police car’s dashcam camera, shows.
The patrol car caught up with the fleeing SUV just seconds after another cop managed to stop the driver in the left lane.
The driver tried to swerve around the vehicle, but the pair of cop cars quickly moved to block his Jeep.
It took just 1 minute and 50 seconds to capture the driver, but his escape attempts didn’t end there — the Bronx man “struggled and flailed his arms in an attempt to avoid getting handcuffed” but was eventually hauled out of his seat, according to police.
Inside the backseat were his three anguished passengers: two sisters, ages 65 and 67, from Westchester County, and the elder woman’s 45-year-old daughter.
They were all “hysterically crying,” the NYPD said in the statement.
“Minutes later, the women, still visibly shaking inside an NYPD van, told officers they called a medical transport company that morning to arrange a ride to Midtown Manhattan for a doctor’s appointment,” the department said.
The driver — who was not named by cops — had his license suspended seven times and he was actively wanted by NYPD detectives in the Bronx for allegedly committing a domestic assault last month, cops said.
The Jeep itself also was not street legal — it was operating with ghost plates, a fake VIN, expired inspection and registration, and more.
The three women sustained minor injuries in the chase and were treated at a Westchester hospital.
One NYPD officer and one MTA officer also suffered minor injuries during the struggle to take the driver into custody.
They have since been treated and released from the hospital.
The driver now faces a litany of charges, including assault on a police officer, unlawful imprisonment, reckless engagement, failing to obey a traffic device and more, plus a myriad of other relating to his traffic infractions.
The police chase was not the only drama that unfolded on the Queens side of the tunnel Wednesday — hours later, a drilling contractor accidentally punched a hole in the roof and caused a deluge that terrified drivers.
The puncture sprang a leak in the south tube on the Queens side around 12:30 p.m., dousing passing cars with a heavy streak of water.
The hole was patched up within 45 minutes.
