Police Shoot Hit-and-Run Driver, Ending All-City Crime Spree

The driver that struck and killed a 50-year old man in East Williamsburg as part of a massive, city-spanning crime spree, was shot and killed by police in Great Neck yesterday morning.

The deadly saga began in the South Bronx, around 8:30 pm on Saturday, March 10, when the 46-year old suspect punched a 77-year old man, robbing him of $20, said police.

Then, in the early hours of Monday, the unnamed suspect struck and killed a 50-year old man while driving through East Williamsburg, said police. The victim, who has a son in Brooklyn and family in Mexico, has not yet been identified.

Needing to ditch the hit-and-run vehicle, the suspect drove into Manhattan, stealing a Honda Odyssey around 4:30 am. The suspect carjacked the van’s owner as she delivered newspapers near Madison and Montgomery on the Lower East Side, said police.

Shortly after, the driver switched cars again, punching out the owner of an Acura in Tribeca and stealing his vehicle near West and Harrison.

Hours later, the suspect found himself in Great Neck, Long Island, around 10:30 am, now in possession of a VW. The suspect was stopped without moving at a stop sign when the cars behind him began honking to express their displeasure. The suspect then exited his vehicle with a baseball bat, striking one of the drivers in the head, Nassau County police told the Daily News.

The suspect refused to drop his bat when confronted by a police officer, and when a bystander rushed to intervene, the suspect struck them with the bat as well. At that point, the police officer was forced to fire on the suspect.

Both the bat-attack victims and their attacker were taken to North Shore University Hospital, while the police officer went to Nassau County Medical Center. At the hospital, the car-jacking, pedestrian-killing, bat-wielding suspect died from the gunshot wounds. So far, his identity has not been released.