Police-involved crash, shooting shuts down NYC highway for hours

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Thursday, May 6, 2021
Police chase, shooting shuts down West Side Highway for hours
Candace McCowan reports on the crash and shooting from the West Side.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A wild scene unfolded near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum early Thursday morning after police opened fire on a driver while chasing a stolen car.

The northbound lanes of the West Side Highway reopened six hours after a carjacking led to a crash at 46th Street.

It started when police got a report of a Toyota Camry carjacked from a woman at West 31st and Broadway before 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Soon after, police spotted the stolen vehicle on the northbound West Side highway and pulled it over.

WATCH: NewsCopter 7 over the NYPD investigation on the West Side Highway

NewsCopter 7 was over Thursday morning's shutdown of the West Side Highway following a police-involved crash and shooting.

As a sergeant got out of his police cruiser, the driver suddenly backed the Camry into the NYPD vehicle.

The sergeant fired at least two rounds at the Camry. No one was struck.

The driver took off and was eventually T-boned blocks away where police took the 44-year-old driver into custody.

He was taken to Lenox Hill Healthplex in Greenwich Village to be checked out, where it was confirmed he was not struck.

Police say he was out on parole after being released from prison last August. He was arrested in March for allegedly stealing an electric scooter but released on bail.

Charges against him are pending.

WATCH: Raw video of the West Side Highway crime scene

Raw Video: An unmarked police cruiser collided with another vehicle in the northbound lanes, near the Intrepid, just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

The two officers who made the traffic stop were taken to Bellevue Hospital for tinnitus, ringing in the ears.

The West Side Highway was closed in both directions for hours as the police investigation continued.

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