YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Ridgefield man who crashed his Escalade into two Port Authority police cruisers at either end of the George Washington Bridge in what authorities said was a three-state rampage yesterday is a career criminal who’d been arrested 39 times in the past 15 years, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
Luis A. Figueroa, 33, was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center after the bridge crashes with burns he likely got while trying to burn down a Paterson car dealership a short time earlier.
Three PAPD officers were treated for cuts and bruises at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.
Port Authority police arrested Figueroa late last November for DWI and outstanding warrants. Pentangelo said he was charged after refusing to take a breath test.
Figueroa was wanted for skipping court on those charges when yesterday’s crime spree began, Pentangelo said.
Authorities in Hazleton, PA said he was carrying a shotgun when he attacked a pregnant woman and then kidnapped another woman from her home around 8:30 a.m. and headed to New Jersey.
NJ State Police told Nj.com that the second woman got into the driver’s seat and drove to a local post office in Warren County, where Figueroa attacked a national parks service worker and stole his car.
He then went to a Paterson car dealership, where he tried trading in the stolen vehicle for the Escalade, authorities said. When the salesperson refused, Figueroa stole the vehicle — but not before trying to burn down the dealership.
The fire was contained to a shed, where authorities said they recovered a gas can and other evidence.
It was around noon when the Cadillac struck a marked Port Authority Suburban with one officer inside at the upper level toll plaza, pushing it onto a concrete divider, Pentangelo said.
It continued across the bridge, hitting a PAPD sedan at the 179th Street ramp, he said.
Figueroa abandoned the disabled Cadillac at the ramp to 179th Street and tried to run but was quickly caught by Port Authority officers, Pentangelo said.
Police found a machete in the car, he said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was drawing up charges against Figueroa for aggravated assault while fleeing from police, aggravated assault on a police officer and eluding. He also was being issued several summonses, Pentangelo said.