Video from two of the crime scenes:
POUGHKEEPSIE – One city officer was knocked unconscious on Sunday night and a second one was injured after a man tried to flee from a traffic stop by ramming police cars. The 10:00 pm incident occurred on the 600 block of Main Street near the intersection with Church Street.
A police official says Poughkeepsie officers were conducting a traffic stop of a red Lexus G350 with North Carolina license tags. The car pulled into a parking space but then backed into two marked police SUVs that were performing the stop. The driver then rammed into the rear passenger door, causing it to strike one of the officers. The contact sent the cop airborne and he was knocked unconscious when he landed on the sidewalk. The police SUV struck the other officer’s foot when the suspect rammed into it.
The driver sped away with his passenger and abandoned the Lexus in the vicinity of Winnikee Avenue and Cottage Street, resulting in an unsuccessful manhunt. The North Carolina license tags did not belong to the Lexus and the vehicle ID number from the car traces the vehicle to a Long Island resident of Shirley, New York. The registered owner is not believed to be the driver who injured the officers on Sunday night.
Both officers, Detective Sergeant Sean Fitzgerald said, were treated at MidHudson Regional Hospital for their injuries and the two are unable to return to work.
Anyone with information regarding the incident or is familiar with the operator and passenger of a red Lexus G350 sedan with North Carolina license tags is asked to call the City of Poughkeepsie police department’s confidential TIP LINE at 845-451-7577.
