Man Driving Minivan With Stolen Plates Careens Down DT Sidewalk & Slams Into Woman
A man driving a minivan with plates stolen from a Honda Odyssey was picked up by a scanner near Bowery & Grand Sts., refusing to stop for police before barreling over a 66 year-old woman in front of the Piacere restaurant on Broome St. She was reportedly released in stable condition from Bellevue Hospital after fracturing her right arm. Police eventually apprehended the driver when he became stuck in traffic on E. 23rd St.
| 04 Aug 2023 | 11:40
Piacere, a restaurant at 351 Broome St. The sidewalk in front of the establishment became a crime scene on August 1, after a man fleeing arrest in a minivan with stolen plates slammed into a 66 year-old woman. (
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A man driving a minivan with stolen plates led cops on a white-knuckle pursuit through downtown Manhattan on the afternoon of August 1. The driver, identified by police as 42 year-old Ansel Goolcharan, eventually struck a senior citizen on a Broome St. sidewalk and was not apprehended until he became stuck in traffic near E. 23rd St.
The 66 year-old woman who was injured by Goolcharan’s minivan was released from Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a fracture in her right arm. He also reportedly assaulted a police officer during arrest, but did not inflict serious wounds.
Police said that they picked up on the plates around Bowery and Grand Sts., which they claim were stolen on June 15 in Queens. Goolcharan allegedly fled when they attempted to pull him over.
The chase began around 4:46 p.m., and Goolcharan was booked at the 13th Precinct around 5 p.m. He was hit with a bevy of charges, some of which included: vehicular assault, two counts of reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, and criminal possession of stolen property.
This wasn’t Goolcharan’s first police chase. He had previously taken officers for a whirl in South Ozone Park nine years ago, after violating an order of protection filed against him by the mother of his son.
The chaotic event would be disturbingly echoed just half-an-hour later, after a man in a stolen sedan identified as 20 year-old Kyle Fernandez led cops on a wild chase that ended near Grand Central Terminal. According to police, Fernandez injured ten people during that rampage, including slamming into five people while performing a hairpin U-turn on the E. 42nd St. & Lexington Ave. crosswalk. He then headed the wrong way up Lexington before crashing into a Toyota RAV4 and being apprehended at the scene.