Driver Falls Asleep, Crashes Into Police Car On GWB: Police

FORT LEE, N.J. — Two men were arrested after their vehicle crashed into a police car on the George Washington Bridge early Friday morning.

Port Authority Police pulled alongside a 2016 Mercedes Benz sedan at 1:20 a.m. and saw the driver was asleep, said Joseph Pentangelo, a Port Authority Police spokesman.

Police pulled in front of the sedan, which crashed into the back of the patrol vehicle, and stopped along the bridge railing near the New Jersey tower, Pentangelo said.

The driver, Anibal Rivera, 28, of Newark, woke up and police saw a suspected burnt marijuana at the passenger's feet, police said.

Both men denied owning the vehicle. Police found the vehicle's owner, who said he took the car to be washed and detailed at a business the men worked for, Pentangelo said.

Rivera and the passenger, Brandon K. Eckhardt, 26, of Jersey City, took the car out without the owner's permission, Pentangelo said. Rivera was administered a sobriety test, which he failed, police said.

Rivera was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, reckless driving and various drug-possession offenses. Eckhardt was charged with theft, receiving stolen property and possession of marijuana.

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Photos: Anibal Rivera, 28, and Brandon K. Eckhardt, 26 — Courtesy of Port Authority of NY/NJ