Free to 'drive' cops crazy
Wild chase of ‘car thief’ with 200 raps
A paroled ex-con with more than 200 busts on his rap sheet and open criminal cases in four boroughs was free to allegedly lead cops on a wild stolen car chase that left two officers injured last week, The Post has learned.
Joshua Padilla, 29, managed to duck jail despite more than a half-dozen criminal cases hanging over his head — while on parole following a threeyear stint in state prison on a grand larceny conviction, sources said.
“It’s like he’s Teflon,” a law-enforcement source said. “Arrest, jail, prison — none of it means anything to him. That’s what we’re up against.”
But the career criminal — described by the source as “human carnage on wheels” — had his luck run out Tuesday, finally getting locked up after he allegedly tried to evade cops by jumping off a 15-foot overpass and stealing an idling van, which he then crashed into an NYPD cruiser.
At the time of his arrest, Padilla had open robbery and grand larceny cases in Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn, sources said.
In all, the ex-con has 201 prior arrests — not counting sealed cases — dating back to 2006 on charges ranging from forgery, grand larceny and robbery to burglary and reckless endangerment, the sources said.
Padilla was hit with a prison sentence of three to six years in 2017 after pleading guilty to grand larceny in Manhattan. He was released on parole in 2021 — but sources said it hasn’t deterred him.
“He steals cars, he commits robberies — robs people, banks, anything — assaults,” one police source said. “He behaves like a modern-day outlaw.
“He is the revolving door. He operates with impunity.”
Running amok
In his latest scrape with the law, Padilla was spotted driving a white 2021 Dodge Charger with stolen license plates on the Henry Hudson Parkway around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint.
Police tried to pull over the Charger — which was stolen from Staten Island on Aug. 2 — before Padilla allegedly crashed the car and took off running, leaving behind his 23-year-old gal pal.
But Padilla wasn’t done, authorities said. He allegedly jumped off a 15-foot overpass and stole a 2014 Dodge Caravan left idling near West 155th Street and Riverside Park.
He allegedly crashed the van into an NYPD patrol car, injuring two cops and fleeing on foot again — before he was eventually caught, according to the complaint. The cops were treated for minor injuries at Mount Sinai Morningside hospital.
Padilla was taken to Columbia University Irving Medical Center with a leg injury and charged with two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny and four counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
At his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment, prosecutors asked that Padilla be held on $35,000 bail, but the judge instead set it at $25,000 in cash or a $50,000 bond.
While Padilla is locked up on Rikers Island, he also faces an open grand larceny charge in Manhattan from March 11, records show.
He has open robbery and grand larceny cases in The Bronx from incidents in November and December as well, according to the records.
And he’s facing grand larceny and robbery charges in Queens from incidents in March.
Three of the Brooklyn cases he faced at the time of his Tuesday arrest were for charges including robbery, burglary and driving with expired plates for incidents in November, January and February. Those cases have since been dropped.
“Because the victims were unresponsive, these cases could not be prosecuted,” a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said.
Padilla still has a trespassing case in Brooklyn.
His court-appointed lawyer on the Manhattan case could not be reached for comment, and his Brooklyn attorney declined to comment.