The NYPD has taken two men into custody who they suspect to be responsible for the Times Square hit-and-run of a police officer that went viral over the weekend.
Within hours of New York State troopers holding a Brooklyn man in detention for two hours before realizing that they had the wrong man, city officers were able to track down Arfhy Santos, 20, and William Lopez, 24, uptown on Wednesday, January 17. As authorities closed in on their Harlem location, it is reported that the speedy tandem led chase on foot and at one point jumped out of a third-floor window in an attempt to escape capture.
Santos and Lopez weren't as successful at getting away as they were around midnight Saturday when Santos - who had been driving Lopez's Mercedes Benz with Lopez in the passenger seat - knocked officer Ian Wallace over and skid past him as Lopez attempted to stop the vehicle on W. 42nd St. and Eighth Ave. for driving wildly through the area.
A recording of that incident that was shot via cell phone camera would be uploaded to the internet and shared viewed hundreds of thousands of times within days of the incident, which resulted in officer Wallace suffering minor injuries. Investigators have learned that Santos' car was only one of a group of cars that belonged to a car club that had been riding through the area.
They have also revealed that the men have a history of mischief behind the wheel, with Lopez having been wanted for mounting a sidewalk and nearly running pedestrians over on W. 207th Street while fleeing police one day earlier - and already having been arrested for unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a June incident. Santos and Lopez are currently in custody on pending charges.
Source: nydailynews.com
