Driver Causes Grand Theft Auto-Style Destruction Fleeing Cops In New York

Multiple people were injured as the driver got away

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Gif: Jalopnik/ABC7 NY

While it’s not a good idea to run from the cops at all, it’s worse if you’re trying to get away from the cops in a bright green Mercedes, leaving a path of destruction in your wake. That didn’t stop to one determined driver, as ABC News in New York reports, with chaos unfolding in a run from the cops.

It all started Wednesday afternoon in Fordham Heights, in the Bronx. The NYPD claims officers had attempted to stop the driver for smoking weed and windows that were too dark. Perhaps unsurprisingly given that the NYPD was involved, things spiraled. Per ABC News:

​​Officers of the 46th Precinct said they attempted to stop the driver because he was smoking marijuana and his windows were too dark.

When they attempted to pull him over, he tried to flee from the scene, police said.

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Videos from a couple of angles detail the havoc. At first, it just looks as if there’s a typical NYC-in-2021 traffic jam. A few seconds in, cops run over to the vehicle from unmarked cars and attempt to get the driver to stop, guns drawn. That doesn’t work of course. It almost seems as if people in traffic are trying to block him.

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The driver plowed through cars, attempting to reach the sidewalk almost using the Mercedes as a sort of tank to get through the traffic jam.

Refusing to comply, the driver attempted to drive off in the heavily trafficked area, striking at least seven other vehicles, authorities said.

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After hitting the seven vehicles, he sped down the sidewalk and eventually back down the street, away from authorities. Thankfully no one was killed, but 14 people came away with minor injuries.

Whoever the driver was, he got away. The car was found abandoned a short time later just over a mile away. No arrests have been made as police still search for the driver.