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Two Bronx nursing-home workers were badly injured yesterday when a career thug on parole stole an SUV, rammed it into a pursuing police cruiser and then slammed head on into the women’s car, cops said.
The horrific crash caused the stolen white 2001 Dodge Durango to flip over up to 10 times before coming to rest on its roof, while the victims’ overturned car was so mangled that they had to be cut out of the wreckage by rescuers using the Jaws of Life, witnesses told The Post.
“I heard an explosion and said, ‘What the hell happened?’ I looked out, [and] the [SUV] was lying there, right against my truck, with its wheels in the air, ” said Bynell Cook, 60, who was in the cab of his parked 18-wheeler when the crash occurred.
The women had been on their way to work at Bay Park Nursing Rehab when the perp’s vehicle collided with their green Saturn sedan at 6:30 a.m. on Boston Road between Marolla Place and Boller Avenue in Baychester.
Police sources said the ex-con driver, Daniel Straker, 37, was arrested for murder in 1994 and did years behind bars for first-degree assault. After his release, he was busted in 2009 for drugs and assault and put back in prison. He was freed again on parole on June 1 but hadn’t checked in with his parole officer, as required.
He allegedly swiped the SUV from the parking lot of the Fairway Market in Pelham Manor.
Erica Martinez, 28, the vehicle’s owner, said she had just reported for work at about 6 a.m. when “I punched in and looked out the window and saw my car was gone,” she said.
“I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and ran out,” Martinez said, admitting she had left her keys in the SUV.
“I saw there was a guy inside my car and ran to the driver’s side just as he hit the gas. He almost slammed into me, but I jumped out of the way,” she said.
The perp spun wild “doughnuts” in the SUV in the parking lot of a neighboring BJ’s Wholesale Club as cops were called.
When officers arrived, the crazed Straker allegedly roared off in the vehicle, heading down Pelham Parkway to Boston Road and then into The Bronx.
The officers tried to pull him over at Conner Street — but the maniac backed into their cruiser once they got out and then took off southwest on Boston Road, where the crash occurred less than a half-mile away, cops said.
Sources identified the Saturn’s driver as beloved Bronx grandmother Valerie Eubanks, 62, a 25-year employee of the nursing home. She suffered hip, rib and arm injuries but was expected to recover.
Her longtime carpooling partner, Shirley Scott, 53, of The Bronx, suffered life-threatening leg and head injuries and was on life support, a nephew said.
Both women, who worked in the kitchen of the nursing home, were in Jacobi Hospital.
Scott’s stricken nephew, construction worker Denzwerth Hamilton, 26, said of his aunt: “She’s broken both arms and legs. Her right leg has multiple bones broken. She’s suffering from head trauma right now.’’
Eubanks’ son-in-law, Andrew Chong, 49, said she was in intensive care with broken ribs.
“She goes out of her way for anyone who needs help,” he said.
Straker was cuffed and taken to Jacobi under police guard, and police said he was expected to be slapped with a slew of charges.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Julia Marsh and Christina Carrega