QUEENS — A Long Island man who hit three cars because he claimed he was trying to avoid striking a cat later called police pretending his car was stolen, authorities said.
Police Officers Jose Suriel and Angel Ramos of the 113th Precinct were on patrol Monday when they responded to a 911 call about a stolen car on Nashville Boulevard, near 120th Avenue, in St. Albans, about 7 a.m.
Gary Joseph, 31, whose girlfriend made the 911 call, told the officers that a couple hours earlier he left his car running with the keys inside while taking his sneakers from the vehicle to a nearby house. He told officers that, when he returned several minutes later, the car was gone.
Joseph also told the officers he did not call police right away because he thought his friend had taken the car to play a prank on him.
But when the officers ran the car's license plate on their smartphones, they realized the same vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run incident that same day at around 3:45 a.m., at the corner of 198th Street and 122nd Avenue, only four blocks away. In that incident, three parked vehicles were hit by another vehicle that fled the scene.
The officers were able to contact a witness who gave a description of the driver that matched Joseph's. He was then taken to the 113th Precinct, where he admitted he was driving the car when he swerved while trying to avoid a cat and hit the parked vehicles.
The officers credited their new smartphones that the department recently issued them for being able to access information more quickly.
"Instead of going back to the station house, we could do the work right on scene," Suriel said.
It was unclear whether the car was found.
Joseph, of Wyandanch, Long Island, was charged with falsely reporting an incident and leaving the scene of an accident.
He received a desk appearance ticket on July 28 and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 11, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.
