By Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Two NYPD officers fled the scene when the driver of a stolen SUV they were pursuing died in a fiery Manhattan crash, returning to their Bronx precinct without reporting what happened, police sources said Thursday.
Both officers have been suspended as the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division investigates their actions, a police official confirmed.
The officers, both assigned to the 50th Precinct, tailed the driver of a Honda CR-V down the Henry Hudson Parkway into Manhattan early Wednesday, the sources said. The vehicle had been reported stolen.
The Honda driver exited the parkway at Dyckman Street in Inwood about 4:55 a.m. and crashed into a building just off the exit on the edge of Inwood Hill Park. His car burst into flames.
The officers are accused of fleeing, leaving him to die in the fiery wreck. They returned to their precinct, finished their shift and signed out without reporting what happened, police sources said.
Their marked patrol vehicle was caught on surveillance cameras leaving the scene, a police source said.
The driver died at the scene. His name was not immediately released.
The city medical examiner is conducting an autopsy to determine the driver’s exact cause of death, an NYPD spokesman said.
This incident comes as the NYPD has cracked down on dangerous police pursuits, ordering that officers no longer chase after vehicles fleeing ordinary car stops.
The new policy, which went into effect in February, allows pursuits only when a felony crime or a violent misdemeanor is committed.
The new guidelines were a response to criticism that the department engages in unnecessary police pursuits that lead to crashes and injure other motorists and pedestrians.
Instead of following fleeing drivers responsible for traffic violations, the department will rely on “advanced tools of modern-day policing” to track down and apprehend the suspects, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in January.
Police already utilize varying tracking techniques, including the use of drones and GPS trackers that can be fired and affixed to a fleeing vehicle.
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