2 collared in wild shoot-chase
NYPD cop hit by car, suspect shot during Brooklyn mayhem
Two men have been arrested for a wild police pursuit in Brooklyn that ended with a cop shooting a motorist who clipped him with his SUV, the NYPD said Wednesday.
Adrian Almonte-Castillo, 21, was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly striking the cop with his Honda CR-V at the corner of Meeker and Vandervoort Aves. in Greenpoint at 3:55 a.m. on May 28.
Also arrested was Carlo Tavera, 24, who was driving a black Acura MDX with North Carolina license plates. Tavera was seen blowing through three red lights and weaving around a pedestrian crosswalk as he fled cops, police said.
Neither arrest was previously reported. The wild sequence began when members of the 90th Precinct’s Public Safety Team investigated a 911 call regarding shots fired near Broadway and Lorimer St. in Williamsburg.
When cops got to the scene, they saw three vehicles driving away. The officers searched the area and found the vehicles about 2 miles away near Meeker and Vandervoort. Cops said it appeared the three vehicles, which allegedly included Almonte-Castillo’s white CR-V and Tavera’s Acura, had crashed into one another.
Two uniformed cops exited their unmarked police vehicle and approached the
CR-V.
“We have one officer on the passenger side imploring the driver to shut the car off,” NYPD Deputy Chief John Chell, commanding officer of Brooklyn North detectives, said at a news conference a few hours after the shooting. “Her partner was in front of the vehicle, giving directions. After a minute, the white car decides to flee, striking one of the officers who subsequently discharges his firearm three times into that vehicle.”
“[He] was thrown across the street when he was hit by that vehicle,” Chell said about the struck officer. “The officer was roughly 1 or 2 feet in front of the white vehicle when the gas was hit.”
The cop’s leg and knee were injured. A second officer also suffered a hand injury during the incident, police said. Both were treated at area hospitals and released.
A short time later, Almonte-Castillo showed up at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his chest. Someone had dropped him off at the hospital and took the CR-V with them, Chell said.
Tavera is charged with failure to obey traffic control signals, driving on the opposite direction of a one-way roadway, excessive speed and other traffic offenses, cops said. He was released without bail following a brief arraignment May 29.
Almonte-Castillo remained hospitalized Wednesday. He’s expected to be arraigned in the coming days, prosecutors said.