Queens hit-and-run driver sped down sidewalk, video shows
ASTORIA, Queens (PIX11) -- Surveillance video shows a white Mercedes SUV as it hopped onto the sidewalk early Monday afternoon in Astoria, Queens.
A pedestrian who was right in the vehicle’s path just barely got out of the way, as the suspect flew by. The driver crashed into the glass partitions of the United Brothers Fruit Market before he struck a woman as she walked toward the corner.
Market manager Ahmed Faid immediately ran out to the busy sidewalk at the corner of 30th Avenue and 33rd Street.
"He doesn't stop. He smashed everything. We run and we see the lady. The lady went down. I just saw her face turn yellow ... We couldn't touch her," said Faid.
The woman was lucky. The vehicle knocked her down, but she only suffered cuts and bruises, police said.
At least two unmarked vehicles pursued the fleeing suspect who just kept going. The pursuing vehicles were federal DEA agents who were conducting surveillance when they witnessed some kind of illegal activity, sources familiar with the case told PIX11 News.
They then began following the suspect in the white SUV. The pursuit ended about a mile away from the initial scene, where the suspect crashed into a light pole. The agents arrested him after a brief foot chase.
Kevin Coffer lives on the block and saw the arrest unfold from his apartment window.
"He looked like he was injured. They had him sat down and they were kind of cuffing him at the time. I think it's kind of crazy," said Coffer.
The unidentified suspect is now in custody. Agents recovered two guns and the drug fentanyl from the white SUV, sources told PIX11 News.