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The Westchester County Police Real Time Crime Center alerted the Mount Vernon Police Department of a stolen vehicle in the city shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18, County Police spokesman Kieran O’Leary said.
When officers attempted to pull the stolen vehicle near the intersection of West 1st Street and Vista Place, the driver took off onto the Hutchinson River Parkway.
The driver of the stolen vehicle - later identified as 29-year-old George Smith of Mount Vernon - struck a county police patrol car at approximately 9:38 a.m. and continued to flee. The officer was injured during the crash, but continued to pursue Smith in the stolen vehicle.
Police said that the vehicle eventually came to a stop on Boston Post Road in Pelham, when a female passenger was taken into custody and the driver fled on foot.
County Police officers searched the area and the driver was taken into custody at approximately 11 a.m., when he was found hiding in a shed in the Bronx.
O’Leary said that the female passenger was an innocent victim in the incident, and had simply gotten into the stolen cab for a ride before Smith took off. The injured county police officer was transported to Westchester Medical Center, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and was released from the hospital later that day.
Smith was arrested and charged with felony counts of assault, criminal possession of stolen property and reckless endangerment. He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident.
Smith was arraigned in Eastchester Town Court and remanded to the Westchester County Jail without bail. Smith is scheduled to appear in Mount Vernon City Court on Tuesday.
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