What to Know
- Police are searching for two suspects who led police on a chase near the Bronx-Mount Vernon border, dragging one officer about a block
- One officer fired a gunshot, though it's not clear if anyone was struck. The dragged officer was taken to the hospital
- A nearby Bronx high school was put on lockdown as a precaution; the lockdown has since been lifted
A police officer was dragged for about a block and a gun was fired during a wild chase near the Bronx-Westchester border that sent a Bronx high school into lockdown, officials said.
The NYPD was investigating along with Mount Vernon police at the scene.
Mount Vernon police had been looking for a stolen black BMW sedan with Pennsylvania plates, and they spotted it on Monticello Avenue near Pitman Avenue, just a block from the Mount Vernon jurisdiction, the NYPD said.
Officers tried to stop the man and the woman inside the car, but the car took off, dragging a Mount Vernon officer with them for about a block, police said. The car crashed into a parked white sedan, which then pushed into the back of a parked semi-trailer, and the couple inside took off and ran away on foot.
At some point a shot was fired; the NYPD says they believe it was from a Mount Vernon officer, but it's not clear whether it was the officer who was dragged or another officer.
Mount Saint Michael High School in the Bronx was put on a precautionary lockdown amid police activity in the area.
Local
Surveillance video obtained by News 4 shows the pursuit and crash, then a man wearing a blue and white shirt running from plainclothes officers along Pittman Avenue. Moments later, another officer was seen walking on the sidewalk, an unholstered gun dangling at his right side.
The officer who was dragged was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, along with two other officers who had minor injuries.
The suspects ran off foot, and on Friday, police said they'd arrested 24-year-old Howard Rowlett after he walked into Stamford Hospital in Connecticut with a gunshot wound to the back. He claimed he was the victim of a drive-by shooting by police were able to connect him to the Mount Vernon incident and took him into custody.
Mount Vernon police were working to have Rowlett extradited to Mount Vernon once he is released from Stamford Hospital.
