A 36-year-old Brooklyn man ran over a woman’s foot and then drove his Audi into the Gowanus Canal before escaping the vehicle and splashing to shore, police said.
The identity of the man, who was taken into custody as he climbed from the polluted canal, was withheld by police pending charges.
The events began about 11:15 a.m. when the man allegedly ran over the 41-year-old woman’s foot while she was holding her 1-year-old daughter at Degraw and Court streets. “He continued on DeGraw and drove into the water,” said a police source.
The man freed himself from his vehicle “and climbed out of the water,” police said. He declined medical attention, the police spokesman said.
The canal is so polluted it was declared a federal Superfund site in 2010.
The woman and her daughter were taken to New York Methodist Hospital. “There were no life-threatening injuries,” said the police spokesman.
