Gotcha! Hit-And-Run Driver Who Struck Paramus Officer At Mall ID'd, Captured, Chief Says

A suspect who hit a Paramus police officer with his car as he fled a local mall was identified and captured thanks to dogged detective work and crime-fighting teamwork, authorities said.

Manuel Jimenez
Photo Credit: *Boyd A. Loving for DAILY VOICE (file) / PARAMUS PD (inset)*

Jerry DeMarco

03/26/2024 12:32 p.m.

Officers were investigating the use of credit cards stolen from vehicles at the Garden State Plaza when a black Honda CRV sped through the lower-level parking garage just before 8:30 p.m. Jan. 29, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said.

Officer Michael Cleary was clipped by the car, whose driver kept going, Guidetti said.

Cleary was treated for a knee injury at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. Meanwhile, a manhunt began.

Through "meticulous investigative work," the chief said, Paramus Police Detective Thomas Holden identified the driver -- Manuel Jimenez Cordonez, 23, a Dominican national who lives in Manhattan.

A task force was assembled consisting of Paramus police, members of the FBI - NY Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, DEA NY, Westchester District Attorney’s Office, NYPD, Yonkers police and Port Authority police.

Jiminez was booked into the Bergen County Jail on Wednesday, March 27.

He's charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, ID theft, credit card theft and false impersonation.

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