A drunken off-duty cop plowed his SUV into a group of friends on a Brooklyn sidewalk early Saturday, killing one and seriously injuring three others, police said.
Witnesses said Officer Nicholas Batka, whose vehicle was speeding and swerving in the seconds before impact, flashed his badge and tried to flee the scene after the 3 a.m. crash.
One victim had a leg torn off in the gruesome wreck, and another was impaled on a railing in the deadly pile-up just four hours before rookie cop Batka was due on the job, police said.
“The EMTs had to get a saw to remove the man impaled on the railing,” said witness Jaminah Kang, 35. “Another man (looked) like he took a chainsaw to the knee.”
As the mangled victims writhed in agony a few feet away, Batka tried to bolt from the crash, witnesses said. The cop first attempted to throw the SUV in reverse — but instead kept going forward.
“Please help me!” one anguished victim is heard howling in a video shot at the scene. “My leg is gone!”
When the officer tried to climb out of the vehicle, a passerby held the SUV’s door shut until police arrived.
“It was unreal,” said Kang, who called 911. “It was like an episode of TV come to life.”
The cellphone video shows Batka sitting in the passenger’s seat as chaos rages around him. A man in a red shirt wags a finger at the cop and holds the door closed.
“Don’t let him get out!” someone shouts. “He’s going to run away!”
Batka was charged with DWI and suspended from the force, NYPD Inspector Scott Shanley told reporters at the scene. The officer refused to take a Breathalyzer test, sources told the Daily News.
No comments:
Post a Comment