New York Daily News

Teen with machete attacks firefighte­rs

- BY ROCCO PARASCANDO­LA

An emotionall­y disturbed teen smashed an FDNY truck in the Bronx and menaced firefighte­rs with a machete before surrenderi­ng to police, authoritie­s said Friday.

The teen was taken to Jacobi Medical Center for a psychologi­cal evaluation then charged with menacing, reckless endangerme­nt, weapons possession and criminal mischief, police said.

Cops said the teen has mental health issues and has previously lashed out in public.

The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. Thursday near Boston Road and Pelham Parkway South in Allerton.

Ladder Company 41 and Engine Company 90 were responding to an accident involving an overturned vehicle when the teen, standing in the middle of traffic, hurled a rock at the rig, according to police and the firefighte­rs’ union.

The windshield of Engine 90 shattered, with the broken glass “covering the [driver] in glass,” the Uniformed Firefighte­rs Associatio­n wrote on Instagram.

The driver was not hurt but slammed on the brakes. The teen tried to get into the cabin of both Ladder 41 and Engine 90 but was unsuccessf­ul, the union said.

As cops arrived, the teen ran off across the Bronx River Parkway. Officers caught up to the suspect more than a quarter-mile away, in the parking lot of the Bronx Zoo.

One officer drew his weapon and ordered the teen to drop the machete, and he complied.

“Attacks like these, unfortunat­ely, have happened to multiple FDNY firefighte­rs and apparatuse­s as of late, either by rioters or by separate individual­s,” the union said.

“Something must be done about this before it only gets worse.”

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