A man wanted in a Rhode Island killing crashed his SUV at a Manhattan intersection, injuring several pedestrians, and then was shot by police after he emerged waving a knife at officers, authorities and witnesses said.
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officer wounded Joel Noonan in the abdomen and groin during Monday’s confrontation, authorities said. Noonan, 36, is wanted in the stabbing death Sunday of a man in East Providence, R.I., police said.
Noonan was hospitalized in stable condition. Four other people also were hospitalized, including a woman in critical condition, and two other people were treated and released.
Noonan was driving in midtown Manhattan shortly after 9 a.m. when he collided with another SUV, police said. The other vehicle lurched onto a sidewalk and into a group of pedestrians.
He jumped out of his SUV wielding a knife, authorities said. Police said they fired at him and used pepper spray to subdue him.
“He had a knife in his left hand and he’s swinging it at the cops, chasing them around his Jeep,” said bystander Raymond Garcia.
Blood on the driver
East Providence, R.I., police said Noonan stabbed 37-year-old Steven Dowaglia to death during an argument Sunday evening at the victim’s home. He then attacked Dowaglia’s wife and 8-year-old daughter before letting them go and fleeing, police said.
Noonan is possibly a distant cousin of the wife, and she was trying to help him with his drug problem, Detective Lt. Steven Kennedy said.
East Providence police Capt. James Barlow said Noonan is skilled in martial arts and had said he would not be captured alive.
Authorities in New York were already pursuing Noonan at the time of the crash, according to Stephen Mangione, spokesman for the officers’ union of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. As Noonan stopped at a toll booth on the Triborough Bridge early Monday, the collector noticed blood on the driver and the SUV’s window, steering wheel and console.
A license plate check revealed he was wanted in Rhode Island, Mangione said. Before Noonan’s vehicle could be pulled over, he sped off into Manhattan.
Authorities said Noonan lives in Avon, Mass. There was no telephone listing for a Joel Noonan in Massachusetts.
East Providence police will be working with the attorney general’s office to return Noonan to Rhode Island, Kennedy said.