NYC Street Sweeper Leads Cops on Wild Chase Through Brooklyn

Photo by Jason Lawrence/Flickr

BOROUGH PARK, BROOKLYN — Roman Protas, 38, a Brooklyn resident and on-duty employee for the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY), led Brooklyn police on a wild car chase in his street sweeper Thursday morning after he was caught “throwing objects at a religious statue in front of a church,” according to the NYPD.

Police arrived to St. Frances De Chantal Roman Catholic Church in Borough Park around 8:30 a.m., after a 911 caller reported seeing a man throwing objects at the church’s outdoor statue of Jesus holding a cross, a police spokesman told Patch.

At the first sign of the cops, Protas allegedly hopped in his street sweeper and took off.

“We observed this individual in full DSNY uniform, fleeing the scene in a street sweeper — a Department of Sanitation machine,” the police spokesman said.

Cops trailed Protas’ careening sweeper for ”several blocks” before they were able to stop and apprehend him, the spokesman said.

For the car chase, Protas has been charged with reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle, reckless driving and running a red light. For throwing objects at the church statue, he’s been charged with criminal tampering and reckless endangerment of property.

And on top of it all, because cops allegedly found prescription drugs (for which he did not have a prescription) on his person upon arrest, Protas has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

A DSNY spokeswoman confirmed that Protas is a sanitation worker with the Brooklyn South 12 garage.

She said he’s been with the department since October 2004, but has now been suspended while NYPD detectives conduct their investigation.