MANHATTAN — A hit-and-run driver who plowed into a cyclist while trying to flee police near Penn Station on Sunday had been drinking for five hours before the incident, officials said.
Raheem Addison, 28, had been hitting the bottle since 2:30 p.m. when he walked into a parking garage near on West 34th Street near Seventh Avenue and got behind the wheel of a black sedan at 7:30 p.m., officials said. His blood alcohol level was was .177, more than twice the legal limit, police said.
Prosecutors did not immediately release information about where he had been drinking.
Police were summoned to stop Addison — whose license was revoked in 2014 after eight convictions over the course of two years for arrests including drunk driving. But he took off, driving the wrong way in the westbound lane of West 34th Street, officials said.
He plowed into the 32-year-old cyclist who went "flying into the air, then onto the pavement," according to the criminal complaint.
The bike rider had skin ripped from his right arm, two arteries in his neck were damaged, and his neck, chest and chin were all cut, prosecutors said.
Addison then turned against traffic on Seventh Avenue and continued north a couple blocks until he did a U-turn and jumped out of his car at West 35th Street, trying to flee on foot, officials said.
Addison was arrested and arraigned on charges of assault, vehicular assault, driving without a license, leaving the scene of a crash and driving while drunk, officials said.
He's being held on $300,001 bond and is due back in court Friday, records show.
Police also questioned a man who was in the car with Addison, but released him without charges, they said.
The cyclist was initially listed in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital, and he later stabilized, officials said.
Addison has been arrested 22 times since 2009, police said. Many of those records are sealed.
His license was revoked Aug. 12, 2014, after eight convictions since the previous year for charges including driving drunk, driving an unregistered vehicle and failure to comply with ordinances, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Addison also has 25 open scofflaw suspensions, 1 non-scofflaw revocation and three open non-scofflaw suspensions, a DMV spokesman said.
