Video by LA Movie on Play via YouTube

Several cellphone videos posted to social media captured a daylight police stop which resulted in mayhem on Fordham Road last Wednesday. The videos show armed police officers with their guns pointed at a car driver while the car is situated in heavy traffic. The car driver proceeds to smash into several surrounding vehicles before he mounts a crowded sidewalk to make his getaway, at least temporarily.

According to NYPD spokeswoman, Detective Denise Moroney, the incident was reported by officers from the 46th precinct at 5:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 4. “Police attempted to conduct a car stop in the vicinity of East Fordham Road and Marion Avenue,” Moroney said.

She continued, “The operator of the sedan refused to stop, struck seven vehicles, and drove down a public sidewalk.”

Moroney said 11 people were injured as a result of the incident. All were passengers in vehicles that had been hit. Police described the suspect as a male, dark-skinned, with long, black braids who was wearing a white shirt and a black baseball hat.

One video, posted to Instagram by user, “el_goldo718,” which received nearly 60,000 views, shows police with their guns drawn on the driver of the vehicle. The car appeared to be a high-end, green Mercedes Benz GLC Coup that has a starting price of $60,000.

In the video, the vehicle is seen pinned in gridlocked traffic before the suspect throws the car into reverse, slamming into another car before speeding past officers and striking a second car. The suspect’s vehicle almost flips over in the process.

At least two videos captured a man, who it is understood is an undercover detective, jumping off a Citi Bike and ducking around some vehicles, before pulling out a revolver as the suspect’s car sped forward. Both the presumed undercover detective and the other officers then pursued the vehicle on foot. Norwood News has asked the NYPD to confirm if the Citi Bike rider was indeed an undercover cop, and will update this story upon receipt of any response we receive.

At one point, in attempting to avoid impact with the suspect driver’s car, a mini van is seen in the video making a sharp right turn, allowing the offender to continue through an intersection.

Video courtesy of David Perez via Youtube.

The suspect driver then strikes another vehicle before mounting the curb and attempting to squeeze between a fire hydrant and two vendors’ tables at the front doors of Old Navy, knocking over the two vendor tables in the process but seemingly not hitting anyone. The suspect continues to drive down Fordham Road on the sidewalk, past McDonalds to make his getaway.

In another video, posted to YouTube by user, David Perez, one viewer “coolvidzman” commented, “Anyone who would willingly drive a lime green Benz obviously has criminal tendencies.” Several other viewers asked about the background music playing in Perez’s video during the incident.

A second video posted by Perez on YouTube on the same day shows the crime scene cordoned off around the suspect’s vehicle which at this point is parked on a sidewalk. Citing “police sources,” both The NY Daily News and the NY Post later reported that the vehicle was located at Hughes Avenue and Crescent Avenue in the Belmont section of the Bronx.

The following day, Aug. 5, police arrested Francisco Padilla, 29, of Grand Concourse in the Mt. Eden section of the borough. Padilla was charged with 11 counts of reckless endangerment, 11 counts of leaving the scene of an accident, one count of obstructing governmental administration, one count of fleeing an officer, one count of reckless driving, one count of an illegal U-turn, and one count of an equipment violation.

meanwhile on Fordham.. pic.twitter.com/ykQfPoIMCY

— Javy (@ArchCatalyst) August 8, 2021

A resident, who lives in Padilla’s building and who said she did not know Padilla personally, confirmed she had seen the video of the bizarre incident. “I saw the car and all the damage that it did. Yeah, that was crazy, to say the least. I was like, okay, I don’t know what that was about. It was weird.” The resident added that she hadn’t seen the vehicle in question parked near her building before.

Officially, the NYPD gave no reason for the car stop, but WABC-TV credited tinted windows and marijuana smoke as the reason for the police response.  As recently reported, driving while under the influence of marijuana is illegal.

A person arrested and accused of a crime is innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.