Port Authority officer injured trying to stop livery driver speeding toward Holland Tunnel

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Port Authority police officer injured his hand when he was struck by a livery car whose driver refused his order to stop after zipping through a Holland Tunnel toll lane yesterday, authorities said.

Photo Credit: *Courtesy PORT AUTHORITY PD*

Jerry DeMarco

02/21/2014 6:33 p.m.

The officer was directing traffic when he spotted the black Lincoln Town Car speeding from 12th Street, the authority’s Joseph Pentangelo said this morning.

“As the vehicle came through an E-ZPass Toll lane, the officer put his left hand out and signaled the driver to stop,” he said. “The driver ignored the officer’s instructions and kept driving.”

After hitting the officer’s hand, the driver “sped toward the south tube entrance before coming to a stop in traffic,” Pentangelo said.

The driver resisted the officer, “flailing his arms and refusing to cooperate,” before he was subdued and handcuffed, he said.

The car was impounded and the driver — 44-year-old Adebayo T. Kolawole of Far Rockaway in Queens — was taken to the Hudson County Jail, where he was being held on $15,000 bail.

Kolawole is charged with resisting arrest, reckless driving and failing to comply with a lawful order.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy PORT AUTHORITY PD

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