A 23-year-old woman is in custody for allegedly hitting two officers as she fled a car stop in Manhattan — and cops have suspended one of the responding officers for firing his gun at her vehicle, the NYPD announced Friday.
Veronica Jagdeo was driving a black BMW sedan near East 96th Street and Second Avenue just before 9 p.m. Thursday when cops pulled her over for heavy tints on the car, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said.
When two anti-crime officers from Police Service Area 5 approached the vehicle, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana as they were interviewing Jagdeo and her boyfriend, Jason Mohammed, 26. Two other individuals were also in the car.
“Suddenly the BMW began to flee the location, striking the officer on the driver side on the left elbow, causing an injury, and striking the officer on the passenger side in the hand, causing injury,” Monahan explained.
The two cops got into their car and chased after Jagdeo southbound on the FDR. They ended their pursuit when she pulled into a dead end off a closed ramp near East 15th Street.
As the officers were approaching her car, Jagdeo threw the car into reverse and rammed into their unmarked car and nearly struck one of the officers again, Monahan said.
The officer who was hit in the elbow then took out his gun and fired six rounds as Jagdeo was fleeing.
Investigators reviewed the officer’s bodycam footage and found he may have been in violation of department guidelines, Monahan said. The officer has been placed on modified duty pending the outcome of a complete investigation.
Monahan said it is permitted to fire at a car if it “is coming at you or causing an immediate danger to an individual on the street,” but it is not acceptable if a car is “proceeding away” and “fleeing down an open highway.”
While the car did head toward the officer, it drove past him and the officer continued to shoot, Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said.
The four suspects eventually abandoned the car, which was not registered to Jagdeo, and took off on foot.
Jagdeo was picked up some time after. Mohammed was apprehended when he went to Queens General Hospital late Thursday with complaints of a shoulder injury related to either a metal or glass fragment embedded in his skin.
Mohammed had an open parole violation on his record and a warrant out for his arrest.
Monahan said that could be the reason the couple fled.
Charges for Jagdeo were pending and the other two people in the car remained at large.



