By Emma Seiwell, Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
A speeding moped fleeing a shooting exploded into flames after T-boning an NYPD SUV in a wild crash caught on video, police said.
The 34-year-old moped driver, Love Olatunji-Ojo, was barreling toward the corner of Merrick Blvd. and Liberty Ave. in Jamaica about 12:30 a.m. Friday when he rammed into the driver’s side of the marked SUV, cops said.
The driver flipped up over the handle bars of the moped, smashing into the side of the SUV before crumpling to the roadway, surveillance video recovered by the Daily News shows. A second later, the moped exploded. The officers can be seen on video running from the vehicle as it becomes engulfed in flames.
The cops then circle back and come to Olatunji-Ojo’s rescue.
He injured his wrist and suffered burns to his ankles and knees as the flaming moped charred the side of the NYPD SUV, cops said. The two cops in the vehicle were not seriously injured, but were taken to North Shore University Hospital Manhasset.
The moped driver, who lives in Brooklyn, was seen fleeing a report of a shooting on Jamaica Ave. and 187th St., about 15 blocks from where the crash took place.
Responding officers saw Olatunji-Ojo speeding away from the scene and believed he had a gun in a fanny pack.
Cops radioed a description of the moped and the NYPD SUV nosed into the intersection of Merrick Blvd. and Liberty Ave. the to get a better line of sight down the street when Olatunji-Ojo’s moped crashed into it.
Investigators didn’t find a gun but Olatunji-Ojo was charged with drug possession, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, driving without a license and driving an unregistered moped without insurance.
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