MIDTOWN, Manhattan — A parolee turned carjacking suspect rammed into the police vehicle early Thursday prompting an NYPD sergeant to fire his weapon on Manhattan’s West Side Highway, authorities said.
The subsequent investigation shut down a portion of the highway in both directions early Thursday. Both sides of the highway had reopened to traffic by 7:30 a.m.
Police said it all started around 1:15 a.m. when a man forced a female passenger out of a parked car and drove off in an apparent carjacking near the corner of West 31st Street and Broadway.
Moments later, uniformed cops in an unmarked NYPD vehicle spotted that vehicle on the West Side Highway and proceeded to pull it over around West 44th Street without initial incident, the NYPD said.
According to police, when they got out to question the driver, he put the car in reverse and rammed into the police vehicle.
An NYPD sergeant then discharged his weapon, firing one to two rounds, according to police. No one was struck, officials confirmed.
Police were able to take the 44-year-old man into custody and initially brought him to an area hospital to be checked out, authorities said.
The suspect was taken to the Midtown South Precinct Thursday morning for processing. Charges were pending, officials said.
Police sources told PIX11 the Bronx man was released from prison on parole last summer for a drug conviction.
He was arrested again in April for allegedly stealing an electric scooter but was released, sources said. It was not immediately clear why he was released.
