Stolen vehicle drivers charged after NYPD chases hurt pedestrians

Jun 02, 2024

Police have charged two unlicensed drivers involved in separate back-to-back Manhattan crashes that left 11 people hospitalized as the motorists tried to escape police, the NYPD said Wednesday.

Kyle Fernandez is facing 10 counts of reckless endangerment and a slew of other charges for a wild Tuesday rush-hour crash outside Grand Central Terminal in Midtown, cops said. He is accused of being high and not having a license when he led cops on a chase in a stolen Hyundai Tucson.

Kyle Fernandez, 20, is escorted by police from the 17th Precinct on Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

In addition to reckless endangerment, he is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, criminal possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, driving without a license and driving while on drugs.

Fernandez, 20, who lives on the Upper West Side and has a tattoo on his arm that reads “With pain comes strength,” was driving near E. 45th St. and Second Ave. about 5:30 p.m. when cops were alerted the SUV had been reported stolen Monday in the Bronx, police said.

Aftermath of the police chase and crash at E. 42nd St. Tuesday. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Cops hit their lights and sirens near E. 43rd St. and Third Ave., NYPD Assistant Chief James Kehoe of Patrol Borough Manhattan South said Tuesday.

“Initially the vehicle started to pull over and the officers continued to follow at a low rate of speed because of the heavy traffic,” Kehoe said.

But once Fernandez hit Lexington Ave., he sped off, Kehoe said. Turning left, he hit a bicyclist and a yellow taxi before jumping the curb and hitting multiple pedestrians, police and witnesses said.

He then turned off the sidewalk, made a U-turn at Lexington Ave. and E. 42nd St. and began driving against traffic until he slammed into a Toyota RAV4.

A witness said cops were chasing the SUV at high speed, although data retrieved from the pursuing police cruiser show it never went above 19 mph, a police source said.

“The red car was coming and the cops were right behind him with their lights and sirens going,” local worker Carlos Cabrera, 54, told the Daily News.

The victims suffered mostly cuts and scrapes, with the worst injury being an ankle fracture, FDNY officials said.

Aftermath of the police chase and crash at E. 42nd St. Tuesday. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Witnesses grabbed hold of Fernandez as he tried to run off and handed him over to police.

A young woman riding with Fernandez jumped out of the SUV and ran off. Cops are still looking for her.

Fernandez has prior arrests, most recently in January when he was busted for robbery in Harlem. He also has prior gun and drug possession busts, cops said.

He appeared heavily intoxicated as cops took him to undergo a Breathalyzer test after Tuesday’s crash. They found he was high on narcotics, but it wasn’t immediately clear what he had taken, cops said.

About 45 minutes earlier, an unlicensed driver slammed his minivan into a pedestrian as he fled police on the Lower East Side, cops said.

Ansel Goolcharan, 42, was charged with vehicular assault, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident after the 4:45 p.m. pursuit.

Cops began trailing Goolcharan after a license plate reader affixed to their NYPD squad car indicated the Queens resident’s blue Honda Odyssey minivan had been reported stolen. It turned out that the minivan wasn’t stolen, but its license plates were, police said. They had been stolen from a 2007 Odyssey.

The officers tried to pull Goolcharan over at the Bowery and Grand St., but he sped off, authorities say.

Kyle Fernandez

Cops pursued the minivan for four blocks until Goolcharan drove on to the sidewalk near the corner of Elizabeth and Broome Sts., shocked witnesses said.

“The cops were chasing him,” said Andres, a cook at a nearby eatery who did not want to give his last name. “The van went up on the sidewalk and took out the tables.”

“The girl was walking by and he hit her,” Andres said of the 66-year-old victim. “She flew about 10 feet. Her head was bleeding and her arm was broken. And then he kept going!”

Medics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for a fractured right arm and released.

Aftermath of the police chase and crash at E. 42nd St. Tuesday. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Cops lost track of the stolen minivan but “reengaged” their pursuit at E. 23rd St. and Third Ave. — about a mile and a half away — 20 minutes later, police said.

An NYPD supervisor had just called off the pursuit when cops grabbed Goolcharan, who was stuck in traffic, and took him into custody, officials said.

Goolcharan has been arrested more than 15 other times for charges involving drugs, assault and resisting arrest, cops said. He is also a fugitive wanted for an assault he’s accused of committing in New Jersey.

Andres said that several other people were hit, but cops said only one injury was reported.

The arraignments of both men were pending in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Aftermath of the police chase and crash at E. 42nd St. Tuesday. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

The back-to-back crashes come as more police pursuits are occurring in the city, despite their risk to the public.

According to the NYPD Patrol Guide, police pursuits “must be terminated when the danger to the public outweighs the benefits of apprehending the perpetrator.” Historically, cops are encouraged to use tactics that would reduce pursuits.

Yet lately, NYPD brass have made nabbing fleeing drivers a priority.

“People thinking they can take off on us — those days are over,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a news conference last month. “The days of driving around this city, lawless, doing what you think you’re going to do — those days are over.”