Three drivers carjacked in Midtown Manhattan as city experiences rise in car theft

Three separate incidents involving hijacked cars occurred in the Midtown Manhattan area on Wednesday in broad daylight, all taking place within an hour's time of each other.

According to Fox News, the first incident happened around 4:30pm on Wednesday, when a man lost his Audi SUV to a carjacker armed with a taser at Broadway and West 55th Street.

Video of the incident shows the man in the stolen Audi who appears had been closed in. He then violently rams the vehicle immediately in front of him, pushing it to the left and then veering off to the right in order to escape.  

The NYPD reports that the SUV was abandoned by the suspect near Columbus Circle after he crashed it into a pole. The suspect then disappeared into the subway.

A police officer suffered a hip injury during the incident after he attempted to stop the stolen car and was been treated in hospital. He is expected to recover.

Then, in the area of West 36th Street and Seventh Avenue, there was a separate carjacking, less than an hour after the first one. There were no injuries reported this time, but the suspect fled the scene.

In a third incident, police arrested a suspect near the UN headquarters on East 42nd Street and First Avenue, after the license plate reader indicated the vehicle had been stolen. Police said that a second suspect is remains at large, however.

Aside from the aforementioned single arrest on Wednesday, suspects in all three incidents are still at large and authorities continue to search for them.

Carjackings rose a shocking 72.3 percent in New York City in 2021, from previously high levels in the year 2020. These type of crimes are becoming more and more common across the country.