Meneses’ confrontation with police began Wednesday night when he is accused of throwing a device initially believed to be an explosive into a police cruiser at Times Square.
Advertisement
Meneses, who wore a red plastic helmet and was from the borough of Queens, was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.
Police have yet to say what was thrown at the patrol auto, but Donald tweeted out a photo of what appeared to be a red candle wrapped in tin foil. The man barricaded himself inside and said he had explosives inside the auto.
His last job was as a cabbie and applied for a license with the Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2014, police said.
Police have not yet said what exactly was thrown.
“I have a bomb on me and I want to die”, the suspect reportedly told officers. “We thought, ‘This is it, we’re not going to make it, but I’m happy no one else is going to get hurt, ‘” Armani said.
Aubry said the man continued to act erratically, so SWAT officers closed in.
The sergeant in the van immediately drove out of Times Square to a safer location, police said. “We’re not going to let this take out someone else with us”.
Columbus Circle is shut down to traffic as of 6:45 a.m., while subways are skipping the Columbus Circle-59th Street stop, according to the MTA. “Instead, they made the conscious decision to move that police vehicle out of Times Square to get it away from the huge crowds in the square…so that they could save, potentially, hundreds, if not thousands, of people”.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton praised the efforts of Armani, Cybulski and all the police involved in the incident. The items were later determined by the bomb squad to be an apparent hoax device. “(Armani and I) both looked at each other.
Advertisement
The Daily News reports, “Cops sent in an Emergency Services robot to obtain a better view of the SUV, as police unsuccessfully tried to reach his mother and his wife, sources said”. “It was a good day”. Armani, an Afghan immigrant, joined the New York Police Department 10 years ago.
