World’s most clueless carjacker Zachary Bell tries to steal DEA agent’s car
December 17, 2022
Zachary Bell is accused of trying to carjack a US Drug Enforcement Agent in Manhattan. He received severe
facial injuries requiring surgery.
The world’s most clueless carjacker is facing federal charges after he tried to rob a DEA agent’s Jeep, police said.
The federal drug enforcement agent had finished a shift in Manhattan and was stopped at a red light at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue just after midnight on Dec. 9 when Zachary Bell approached his government-issued vehicle, authorities said.
“Get the f–k out of the car,” Bell, 32, screamed at the agent, according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Bell, of Maplewood, N.J., then reached toward his waistband as if he had a gun, prosecutors contend.
That’s when the agent, a seven-year veteran assigned to the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, leapt into action.
He switched on the car’s police lights, pulled out his own gun, hit Bell in the face, tackled him to the ground, and handcuffed him, according to court papers. He then called police.
The agent, who sometimes does undercover work, was not publicly identified. DEA policy considers agents to on duty even when traveling to and from the job.
Responding cops found a gravity knife on Bell, who was charged with attempted carjacking and assaulting a federal officer, authorities said.
The agent, who sometimes does undercover work, was not publicly identified.
Bell, who works at Hudson Yards and has never been convicted of a crime, was taken to the hospital after the incident. He has “severe” facial injuries requiring surgery, said his attorney, Ariel Werner, during a bail hearing last week.
Werner told the judge that the prosecutor described surveillance video of the incident to her that showed Bell approaching the driver-side door of Jeep and waving his arms before walking after the car.
“I think that we will come to find that this was a misunderstanding with very severe consequences,” she said.
“Based on what I have learned so far, I do not believe that the complaint is an accurate statement of what occurred,” said Werner, who did not elaborate.
Bell was released Tuesday on a $30,000 bond and must refrain from alcohol as a condition of his release, court papers show. He will also undergo drug testing and is not allowed to travel outside New York or New Jersey, as additional conditions of his release.
1 comment:
"Bell was released Tuesday on a $30,000 bond..." And THAT, dear reader, is a big part of the problem.
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