A 33-year-old man faces a slew of charges, including drunk driving, after he appeared to be racing through the Brooklyn Heights Promenade that's off limits to vehicles.
Police charged Eric James with drunk driving, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, aggravated DWI, and driving with an open container of alcohol in connection.
The bizarre incident—which took place on Wednesday just before 5 p.m., according to police—was captured on video and posted to Reddit on Friday. Police said it showed James zooming south on the promenade inside a blue Toyota Corolla with onlookers ducking to the side of the path. Police confirmed the authenticity of the Reddit video.
One witness—who was not comfortable having his name published—told Gothamist/WNYC that he thought the driver had made a mistake, until he saw him loop around the promenade, which overlooks the east side of Manhattan. The witness remembered a man stopping the driver to help direct him out of the promenade, but he was quickly ignored.
"Instead of making the turn, he floors it and probably goes 50 [mph] all the way down to the south end of the promenade. That's when it started to get really wild; people are like screaming and like getting out of the way," the witness recalled, thinking the incident was a "terrorist thing."
No injuries were reported for the stunt.
Police soon received a 911 call of the incident, with officers dispatched, catching the driver of the Toyota Corolla "driving up and down the promenade at a high rate of speed," according to the NYPD. Police said officers stopped James, and noticed he had "watery eyes, [and] slurred speech." A strong odor of alcohol" was also emanating from James's car.
James was immediately arrested and charged. The alcohol was found inside a clear water bottle, according to the police. The 911 caller told police that James had smacked the phone out of 911 caller's hand, falling below to the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway just below the promenade.
The aging expressway had been slated to undergo multi-billion dollar repair job by the city that was proposed two years ago, but appears to now be on hold. Some people had floated the possibility of temporarily converting the historic promenade into an actual roadway for vehicles while repairs get underway.
