MANHATTAN — A Bronx man suspected of abducting two women in Pennsylvania and setting a New Jersey car dealership on fire injured two police officers before crashing a stolen SUV in Washington Heights Friday.
Luis Figueroa, 33, was arrested Friday after a three-state chase that ended with him slamming a Cadillac Escalade into a police car near the George Washington Bridge in Washington Heights, Port Authority spokesman said.
The mayhem started at 8:20 a.m. in Hazelton, Pennsylvania when Figueroa abducted a woman at gunpoint, according to local news sources.
The woman, 8 months pregnant, escaped but Figueroa abducted another woman and drove to the Poconos mountains where he stole a park ranger vehicle, according to the Hazelton's Standard Speaker.
He then drove to Paterson, NJ, and tried to ditch the stolen parks ranger van for another vehicle. When that didn't work, he assaulted a car salesman and set the dealership on fire.
About noon, he crashed twice while crossing the George Washington Bridge, a Port Authority spokesman said.
The first crash was when he entered the bridge in New Jersey and the second crash happened as he reached New York on 179th Street.
He hit the second car with such force that it blew out the Escalade’s tires. Figueroa tried to flee but officers arrested him at the scene, the spokesman added.
Officers noticed the man had serious burns on his arms. He had an extensive criminal history with 39 arrests, the PAPD said, 38 of them in New York.
He was transported to Cornell Hospital, the spokesman said.
Figueroa was charged with aggravated assault fleeing from law enforcement, eluding in a motor vehicle, aggravated assault on an officer, and additional traffic related offenses, a PAPD spokesman said. The Manhattan District Attorney's office was still drawing up additional charges.
