UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Brooklyn woman who authorities said yelled “F— these cops!” after smashing her Lexus into an NYPD police officer on Park Avenue last month is facing additional charges, according to a newly unsealed indictment.
On Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Sahara Dula, 24, would be charged with assault, attempted assault, attempted aggravated assault of a police officer, reckless driving and driving a car under the influence of drugs following the Jan. 17 incident in the Upper East Side.
According to Bragg, the indictment followed a review of the case by the New York State Supreme Court.
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“This defendant not only allegedly endangered the lives of countless people traveling on Park Avenue, but she deliberately sought to harm an NYPD officer,” Bragg said in a statement. “We have no tolerance for this type of dangerous attack against police officers and we will continue to treat this matter with the seriousness that it deserves.”
According to court documents, on Jan. 17 around 4:30 p.m., Dula drove her black Lexus the wrong way on Park Avenue for several blocks while under the influence of marijuana. Eventually, she was stopped by an officer from the 19th Precinct at East 71st Street.
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According to police, Dula attempted to enter the intersection against traffic while police were busy safeguarding an abandoned getaway car from an unrelated robbery of $10,000 of goods from a high-end Madison Avenue shop on Wednesday afternoon.
Dramatic dashcam video obtained by the New York Post showed what happened next.
The Lexus came to a full stop as the officer tried to prevent the vehicle from traveling against traffic on the busy avenue. The driver quickly slammed on the gas, sending the cop flying into the air.
The officer suffered a fractured leg and bruising over his body, prosecutors said.
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Dula reportedly told officers that she had smoked marijuana and officers said they found the Lexus reeking of weed, as well as buds of cannabis sitting in the car’s cup holder, police said.
According to authorities, after Dula was placed in the back of an NYPD patrol car, she said “F— these cops!” and that the violence should be a “lesson to him, and hopefully he doesn’t want to be a cop anymore.”
Dula was previously charged with vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, assault with serious injury, and impaired driving charges, according to NYPD police.
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