Metro

BMW crook led LI cops on chase hours before crashing in Manhattan

The career criminal who posed as a potential BMW buyer led Long Island cops on a wild chase only hours after he beat a man and stuffed him in the trunk of a car in upper Manhattan, authorities said today.

Barion A. Blake, who has done time for at least two prior BMW heists, remains at large after he beat Akeem Ajimotokan.

Ajimotokan, 33, was in critical condition at Harlem Hospital yesterday, a day after he was found unconscious, bound and bleeding from his nearly severed ear in the trunk of his luxury car.

Police Commssioner Ray Kelly said Blake was stopped in Nassau County hours after the assault on Ajimotokan.

“The car was stopped in Nassau County by Nassau County police officers,” he said. “Police officers approached the car [and] the individual, we believe to be Blake, was outside the vehicle.”

Kelly said the officer “believed they may have been changing plates at the time.”

“As he approached, Blake jumps in the car and they take off,” he added. “They go westbound on Jericho Turnpike [and] he goes south on the Cross Island Parkway. He’s pursued by the Nassau County police. In the snow, on the roadway, the police car overturns and he escaped.”

Ajimotokan’s nightmare began when he advertised the fully loaded 2008 BMW M3 on Cars.com for $46,000.

Blake pretended to be a prospective buyer, cops said.

But his latest bid to swipe his favorite ride was foiled Wednesday morning when he crashed the car into a taxi in Inwood, near his Dyckman Houses apartment, and fled, police said.

Cops, responding to what appeared to be a routine crash-and-run, found Ajimotokan in the trunk.

“He’s fighting for his life,” said his brother, Ahmed Ajimotokan, of Houston, Texas.

Blake has prior arrests in Queens, Nassau County and Bergen County, NJ, on car-theft charges that at least twice involved BMWs.

His penchant for other people’s cars got him four years in jail in New Jersey. He has also served time in New York.

Police said he stands 6-foot-8. He sports tattoos with the name “Tasha” on his left hand, a scroll with scripture on his forearm, and Chinese writing on his upper arm.

Ajimotokan, an expert in contracts and procurement, has an MBA and lives in a luxury pad on the Hudson waterfront, where apartments rent for $3,000 a month.