An NYPD cruiser, responding to a larceny call, sped through a Bronx intersection injuring at least 10 people, 3 of them seriously this afternoon.
The victims were struck at Hoe Avenue and Westchester Avenue in the Bronx around 3pm Thursday afternoon. Three are reported to have suffered serious injuries.
All 10 who were hurt – including two cops – have been taken to Lincoln Hospital and Jacobi Memorial Center for treatment.
The officers in the car were speeding to a call out for a larceny incident when it was cut off in traffic, and the driver swerved, hitting pedestrians on Hoe Ave and Westchester Ave, NBC New York reported.
Two months ago, an NYPD cruiser crashed into a tractor trailer after the officers were chasing an illegal ATV on the streets of Queens. As a result of the ensuing investigation, the officers involved were placed on modified assignment.
Police said Lopez was driving the ATV in the wrong direction near Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza South in Long Island City when it hit a tractor trailer. The men were not wearing helmets and suffered severe head trauma.
Family members said a friend was riding beside them and he says police were pursuing them.
“They was chasing them. One hundred percent we sure they were chasing them,” brother Ricardo Lopez said.
Under the NYPD patrol guide, pursuits of vehicles are allowed as long as officers follow specific protocols.
The policy “requires that a vehicle pursuit be terminated whenever the risks to uniformed members of the service and the public outweigh the danger to the community if suspect is not immediately apprehended.”
Interpretation of this policy will determine what happens to the officers involved in today’s Bronx accident.
