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One of two officers who were searching the man’s vehicle was thrown from the police car during the theft, a law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon. One of the officers also squeezed off the shot as the thief sped away in the 2005 Audi A6, he said.
- BULLETIN: The man who stole a Fort Lee police car this morning was identified this afternoon as 33-year-old Juan Mendez — also known as: Juan Manuel Mendez, Juan Mendez Lazaro, as well as “Eddie” or “Eduardo.”
The officers were conducting a routine computer check of license plates in the parking lot of the Skyview Motel on Bergen Boulevard just before 10 a.m. when they discovered one that didn’t match its registered vehicle identification, the source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“The VIN number was good,” he said, “but the plate was different.”
The suspect — identified tonight as Juan Mendez — gave the officers consent to search the car, then quickly jumped into the unmarked police vehicle, the source said.
Skyview Motel surveillance photo (Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE)
One of the officers tried stopping Mendez but was thrown from the black, four-door Audi, he said. His injuries weren’t considered serious.
Mendez then tried to run down the other officer, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.
“Shots were fired at the suspect but it is unknown at this time if he was injured,” Molinelli said.
Officers chased the car across the lower level of the bridge into New York City before losing it, the prosecutor said.
NYPD officers were canvassing the area in and around Riverside Park with a helicopter and K9 unit after the police car was found abandoned at 125th Street near Riverside Drive (photo, below), near Grant’s Tomb in Morningside Heights, about 45 minutes later.
“The officer’s duty bag/back pack containing a police department-issued raid jacket and .45-caliber ammunition were stolen from the vehicle,” Molinelli said.
The vehicle was returned to Hackensack this afternoon and was being processed by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Detectives were also awaiting a warrant to search the hotel room and Mendez’s vehicle.
“The suspect should be considered armed and dangerous,” Molinelli said, in releasing a photo and information about him this afternoon.
Molinelli described Mendez as Hispanic, between 25-35 years old, 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall and between 200-230 pounds, with several tattoos and what appears to be a goateed cleft chin.
Anyone with information about the incident or the suspect is asked to call Fort Lee police: (201) 592-3510 or the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit: (201) 226-5651.
PHOTO: Courtesy CBS New York
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