Officers injured in high-speed car chase

Two police officers were injured during a late-night police chase Dec. 16 that started in Morris Heights and ended on the Major Deegan Expressway in greater Riverdale.

A fleeing SUV and a cop car crashed into each other around 2:15 a.m. on Friday. Patrol officers from the 46th precinct observed a white SUV driving recklessly near the corner of East 176 Street and Featherbed Lane.

The officers ran the plates and learned they did not match the vehicle. After trying to pull the vehicle over near that intersection, the vehicle fled from the area and got on to Major Deegan heading north. The cops pursued the car a little more than six miles until they reached the stretch of the expressway that cuts through Van Cortlandt Park.

When they were about parallel with East 233rd Street on the expressway “both vehicles made contact with each other after the SUV failed to properly navigate the roadway,” a spokesman for the department told The Riverdale Press.

Even after the wreck, the SUV continued to flee and was able to evade authorities. The police officers involved in the accident were transported to Jacobi medical center, both in stable condition. No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing, according to the police.

While this chase did not begin in the northwest Bronx, the 50th Precinct that covers the area has seen a huge spike in auto related crimes. At a recent community meeting, Sgt. Vincent Caprino said the 50th is trying to work with neighboring precincts to cut down on this activity.

However, Caprino warned, catching these suspected criminals can be a tricky task. “We’ll wait for (a vehicle) to commit a traffic infraction, or if it has no plates on it and try to pull the car over. And the first thing they do is take off,” he said. “We have to gauge the safety of everybody here. If you guys are on the sidewalk, these guys don’t care about your safety. They want to get away from us.”