Man fatally shot by officer in Great Neck involved in crime spree, police say
GREAT NECK, Long Island (WABC) -- A Nassau County police officer fatally shot a baseball bat-wielding suspect who authorities say went on a road rage rampage Monday morning.
Police say the suspect, 46-year-old Michael Ward, of Maryland, was in the midst of a one-man crime spree spanning from New Jersey to Brooklyn to Manhattan to Long Island.
Ward was initially wanted by police in Bordentown, New Jersey, for allegedly assaulting a gas station worker with a pair of brass knuckles and carjacking a customer's vehicle on Saturday.
Then, police say Ward drove to the Bronx, where he assaulted a 77-year-old man on Melrose Avenue. He knocked him to the ground and stole $20 from him.
Authorities say Ward then ran over a pedestrian in East Williamsburg, killing him.
After the fatal hit-and-run just before 4 a.m. Monday, police say he carjacked a Honda Odyssey from a woman delivering newspapers at Madison and Montgomery streets on the Lower East Side. Ten minutes later, he allegedly carjacked a black Acura after punching the driver in the face at Harrison and West streets in Tribeca.
Police say he avoided being pulled over by officers in the East Village an hour later.
Then, in Great Neck, Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the suspect was stopped at a stop sign at Maple Street and East Shore Road when the drivers of two vans behind him began honking their horns for him to move. Instead, police say he got out of a Volkwagen with the bat and smashed the windows of the first van behind him.
The driver exited the vehicle and was hit in the head with the bat, police said. Seconds later, the suspect reportedly walked toward the second van and smashed those windows. The driver of the second van didn't get out and was not hurt.
Police say a Nassau County officer was on routine patrol and saw what was happening and approached the suspect, who allegedly went after him with the bat. Authorities say the officer attempted to Taser the suspect, but was unsuccessful.
The officer repeatedly told the suspect to drop the bat, authorities said, but the man refused to comply. A good Samaritan who tried to intervene was also hit with the bat, and that's when the officer fired two shots.
Ward was struck in the chest and pronounced dead at the hospital.
The officer was taken to hospital for trauma but was otherwise uninjured. The driver of the van and the good Samaritan were hospitalized for their injuries.
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