A 49-year-old Long Island driver faces a litany of charges for allegedly dragging two police officers for 5 feet, then hitting three other vehicles as he attempted to flee a suspected drug bust, authorities said Thursday.
The officers weren't badly hurt in the altercation with Darius Nellums, and both cops managed to bring him into custody as he tried to flee on foot after the crash.
Police say the two officers were on routine patrol around 7:25 p.m. Wednesday when they Nellums involved in a possible drug deal and stopped his vehicle near Austin Boulevard and Vanderbilt Avenue.
As they approached the vehicle, Nellums put the car in drive, officials say. One cop reached in the car to try to stop him while the second officer opened the passenger door. At that point, Nellums stepped on the gas, dragging both cops for several feet before hitting the other vehicles, cops say. Nellums' car stopped, and he got out and tried to run away, officials said.
The two dragged cops gave chase and Nellums was arrested following a struggle, police say. According to detectives, a bag containing 20 individually wrapped bags of a substance believed to be heroin was recovered from Nellums' car.
It wasn't clear if anyone was in the three vehicles Nellums hit, nor was it known if there were additional injuries.
Nellums faces charges of drug possession, unlawful imprisonment, obstruction and other crimes. He is expected to be arraigned later Thursday; it wasn't clear if he had retained an attorney.
