Police shot and wounded a teenager who was allegedly driving a stolen car through the Bronx early Sunday evening, NYPD officials said. The incident, which left the driver in stable condition, came days after police said officers shot and killed an armed man following a standoff in Brooklyn.
According to NYPD Assistant Chief Aneudy Castillo of Bronx North, Sunday’s incident happened around 6 p.m., after a license-plate reader alerted police that a Kia Sportage that had been reported stolen from the Bronx on Saturday was in northern Manhattan and traveling to the Bronx over the University Heights Bridge.
The NYPD then used a helicopter to track the car through the borough, alerting the department’s Community Response Team on the ground, Castillo said at a press conference Sunday night. Those officers located the car as it was heading east on Fordham Road, approaching Cedar Avenue, and began covertly following it for about a mile, until it made a stop to let a passenger out, he added.
When the car stopped, officers in six unmarked vehicles surrounded it, police said. Officers told the driver and passenger to get out, but the driver tried to escape, first reversing into one of the unmarked police cars and then driving forward and striking an NYPD sergeant, Castillo said.
Another officer jumped on top of a parked car to avoid being hit and fired his weapon at the driver, Castillo said. Police said they were still investigating how many shots the officer discharged. It was also unclear whether all of the officers were in uniform.
The Kia’s 18-year-old driver was hit in the arm, and first responders took him to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition, police said. A 20-year-old male passenger was not injured and arrested without incident, officials said.
The sergeant and multiple other officers involved were also taken to a local hospital to be treated for various injuries, but all were reported to be in stable condition, officials said. They said it was still unclear exactly how many officers were hurt.
Police did not immediately identify the 18-year-old driver, who has not yet been charged. They said the incident was captured on the officers’ body-worn camera, and the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division would be looking into it.
The shooting happened just two days after police fatally shot 48-year-old Lamin Simmons, who they said was armed with a gun when he barricaded himself in a Bed-Stuy brownstone. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police fired at Simmons after he fired several rounds that struck one of the responding officers in the leg.
Simmons died after being hospitalized, Tisch said, and his wife and son told police he had a history of mental illness.
The wounded officer was in stable condition, according to the NYPD.