By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A bizarre Brooklyn carjacking that ended with a stolen SUV crashing through a fence and teetering on a retaining wall above a highway was part of a massive illegal marijuana attempted robbery involving more than 600 pounds of weed, police said Tuesday.
Three people — two of the three carjackers, as well as their victim — were arrested for their part in a half-baked plan to steal the SUV, which had more than 150 pounds of marijuana hidden inside, cops said.
Victim Ting Liu, 37, was driving the pot-packed 2014 Toyota Sienna through Dyker Heights when three men approached his SUV as he was stopped near the corner of Bay Ridge Parkway and 11th Ave. around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, cops said.
The suspects punched Liu in the face, knocking him to the ground. Then they repeatedly kicked him while one of the men had his hand jammed in his pocket as if he had a gun.
The trio robbed Liu of his cell phone, wallet and keys, then threw their victim in the back of the Sienna and drove off.
Witnesses saw the abduction and called police. About a half hour later, the speeding Sienna plowed through a fence at the corner of Dyker Place and 84th St. and plunged down a small embankment, cops said. It came to a crunching halt at the edge of a retaining wall above an on-ramp to the Manhattan -bound lanes of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The SUV was found hanging on the edge of the wall as the sun came up Saturday, the passenger-side front tire dangling off the ledge.
When officers arrived at the scene, the rear of the SUV was found filled with marijuana, cops said.
At around the same time, Liu had been left outside an address at 84th St. and 13th Ave. to which he had no keys, cops said. He managed to enter the home, which was about four blocks from where the crash occurred, and called police for help.
When cops showed up at the home, they found an additional haul of bud in the basement, including 490 pounds of cannabis flower and 3 pounds of THC-laced edibles, according to a city Sheriff Department notification shared with the Daily News.
The Sheriff’s Joint Compliance Task Force assisted the NYPD in conducting a search warrant at the home and recovering the illegal weed.
Police believe the carjackers took Liu to the stash house to get more marijuana, but panicked, sped off and crashed the SUV when they spotted a police cruiser, although cops never pursued the vehicle, officials said.
Alleged carjackers Christin Barnes, 36, and Marc Rivera, 29, were both arrested at the scene and hit with a host of charges, including robbery, burglary, car theft, fleeing police in a car, and obstruction of government administration, cops said.
At their arraignments on Sunday, each was ordered held on $25,000 bail, according to court documents. Barnes was released after paying his bail, but Rivera remained on Rikers Island Monday, city Department of Correction records show.
Both men live on the Lower East Side in Manhattan , about a half mile from each other and 11 miles from Dyker Heights, where the botched drug ripoff took place.
A third carjacker ran off and was still being sought Tuesday.
Liu, who lives in Dyker Heights, was arrested for possession of illegal cannabis, but was released without bail. The charges, officials said, were not bail eligible.
The investigation into the stash house and the marijuana ring that owned the illegal weed was continuing, officials said.
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