RI Murder Suspect Apprehended After Upper East Side Car Chase

Yesterday morning's car accident involving a man suspected of stabbing someone in Rhode Island is profoundly crazy. Joel Noonan was trying to drive away from MTA police on Lexington Avenue when his Jeep Cherokee crashed into Nissan Pathfinder near 63rd Street, hitting pedestrians, with the Pathfinder ultimately crashing into a travel office window. One woman, Eve Maria Boisbel, was hit so hard that she, as Newsday reports, was "wedged inside a black metal garbage can between the gray SUV and the storefront." In fact, the Daily News calls the trash can a "lifesaving helmet" since the Pathfinder had crashed the trash can into the store.

Leading up to the chase, MTA highway police first saw Noonan at the Triborough Bridge Toll Plaza. According to the NY Times, around midnight, a "Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority police officer, Edwin Kowalczyk, saw 'blood on the window, the console, the steering wheel and the driver himself,'" when Noonan was looking for change. Though Noonan drove away, Kowalczk noted the license plate and heard that he was wanted. Then, hours later in the morning, MTA cops were ticketing the Jeep for parking at a bus stop, and asked Noonan for ID, while not realizing he was wanted. Noonan freaked out and drove off, starting the chase. After Noonan crashed into the Pathfinder on the Upper East Side, he got out of the car and waved around a 16 inch knife, refusing to drop his weapon and frightening other pedestrians and workers. The MTA police used pepper spray, but Noonan yelled, "You are not going to take me alive," still swinging his knife at the police. So the police shot him in the stomach and groin.

Boisbel is in critical condition at Weill Cornell Medical; the Pathfinder's driver and other pedestrians had helped remove her from the wreck. Noonan is in stable condition at Weill Cornell; he is suspected of stabbing Steven Dowgiala with such force that the blade broke. It's believed that Dowgiala was now dating Noonan's ex-girlfriend; update Dowgiala was a relative by marriage and he and his wife had been trying to help a drug-addicted Noonan get on his feet. Noonan has been charged in New York with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.