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Ridgewood PD: 'I Panicked,' Says Drugged County Parks Driver Who Hit 10 Cars, Damaged Garage

UPDATE: A 22-year-old Bergen County Parks Department driver from Emerson who authorities said was high when he hit 10 vehicles with a county truck while trying to flee a crash in an underground Ridgewood parking garage told police that he panicked.

Daniel Brancato before Ridgewood police took him into custody.

Daniel Brancato before Ridgewood police took him into custody.

Photo Credit: PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving / DIAGRAM: Courtesy RIDGEWOOD PD
Ridgewood police nabbed the driver nearly four blocks away.

Ridgewood police nabbed the driver nearly four blocks away.

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving
The truck hit the PNC Bank building on East Ridgewood Avenue and kept going for several blocks before it stopped.

The truck hit the PNC Bank building on East Ridgewood Avenue and kept going for several blocks before it stopped.

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving
Aftermath.

Aftermath.

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving
From the other side.

From the other side.

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving

Daniel Brancato -- who already had DUI and drug possession charges on his record -- was driving through the East Ridgewood Avenue underground parking garage just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when the 2003 Ford county dump truck hit the ceiling, police said.

According to the official police report, Brancato told officers he panicked and drove out when debris and water began to fall.

Police, however, said Brancato first backed up into another car after hitting the ceiling, then put the truck into drive and hit two more vehicles, knocking them out of their parking spaces.

He continued on, hitting two more cars before reaching the exit, the police report says, adding that a sixth vehicle in the lot sustained debris and water damage.

Brancato sped from the lot -- with chunks of ceiling debris atop the truck -- and headed west on East Ridgewood Avenue, where it hit four more vehicles, all heading in the opposite direction, the report says.

Brancato kept going even after that, eventually turning onto Van Neste Square and into a Prospect Street parking lot, where police caught up with him.

They arrested Brancato on charges of carrying marijuana and Xanax and with being under the influence. 

He also received summonses for leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident, reckless driving and DWI in a school zone. He was later released pending a hearing.

As a result, Brancato will be bounced from a pre-Trial Intervention Program, through which he'd aimed to expunge arrests on charges of DUI and drug possession in Paramus, law enforcement sources told Daily Voice.

Multiple law enforcement sources said his driving record also includes six license suspensions.

ALL PHOTOS by Boyd A. Loving

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