Rocco Parascandola
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An emotionally-disturbed teen smashed an FDNY truck in the Bronx and menaced firefighters with a machete before surrendering to police, authorities said Friday.
The teen was taken to Jacobi Medical Center for a psychological evaluation then charged with menacing, reckless endangerment, weapons possession and criminal mischief, police said.
Cops said the teen has mental health issues and has previously lashed out in public.
The latest incident happened around 10:30 a.m. Thursday near Boston Road and Pelham Parkway South in Allerton.
Ladder Company 41 and Engine Company 90 were responding to an accident involving an overturned vehicle when the teen, standing in the middle of traffic, hurled a rock at the rig, according to police and the firefighters’ union.
The windshield of Engine 90 shattered, with the broken glass “covering the [driver] in glass,” the Uniformed Firefighters Association wrote on Instagram.
The driver was not hurt but slammed on the brakes. The teen tried to get into the cabin of both Ladder 41 and Engine 90 but was unsuccessful, the union said.
As cops arrived, the teen ran off across the Bronx River Parkway. Officers caught up to the suspect more than a quarter-mile away, in the parking lot of the Bronx Zoo.
One officer drew his weapon and ordered the teen to drop the machete, and he complied.
“Attacks like these, unfortunately, have happened to multiple FDNY firefighters and apparatuses as of late, either by rioters or by separate individuals,” the union said. “Something must be done about this before it only gets worse.”
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