A violent one-man rampage that included at least four carjackings and a hit-and-run death ended when a policeman stumbled across the suspect smashing two cars with a baseball bat and shot him dead.
On Monday, Ward turned his violence on two drivers who honked at him when he didn’t move at a stop sign, smashing their vehicle windows and hitting one of them in the head with a bat. A rookie police officer on patrol in Long Island happened to see the incident and stepped in.
“That officer showed great restraint and finally pulled out his Taser,“ said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, according to CBS. ”He tased the individual. It phased him a little bit but it did not stop him. He then proceeded toward the officer again—all along the officer was giving instructions to put the bat down.”
“A civilian got involved at that point to help the officer, and that civilian was struck in the head with the bat. … He turned on our officer. His last instruction was to put the bat down, and the officer had no other option but to fire.”
Ward was charged in at least 13 assaults and robberies in Virginia before his final crime spree, CBS reported.
Police later identified the attacker as Ward of Fort Washington, Maryland.
He then moved on to Manhattan, stealing a Honda Odessy at 4:30 a.m, only to abandon it 11 minutes later when he carjacked another Acura, this time a black one, by punching its driver in the face.
He then reportedly sideswiped another pedestrian.
Ward then headed to Long Island, where he attacked the two van drivers who honked at him when he didn’t drive forward at a stop sign. When he was caught, he was driving a Volkswagon, CBS reports.
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