Westchester Police New Device Aids in Taking Down Suspected Thieves

In order to combat the scourge of crime in their jurisdictions, law enforcement does their best to be prepared for any situation at any time. Part of what goes into being prepared is the resources, equipment and technology that law enforcement has at their disposal. While it may not necessarily be often, law enforcement does find opportunities to use and introduce new tech and equipment that allows them to do their job even better.

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That is the exact situation that members of the Yonkers Police Department experienced just recently as some new technology played a major role in their apprehension and arrest of suspects tied to theft that had occurred in the city.

Yonkers PD New Tech

The incident in question was detailed in a post issued by the Yonkers Police Department to their official Facebook page just earlier this morning, Wednesday June 4, 2025. The post began with a warning that those thinking about fleeing when being pulled over in the city, may want to rethink about their actions before acting upon them.

Yonkers Police Officers identified a vehicle, a Toyota, that reportedly had been stolen and not only that, this same vehicle was used in reported grand larceny that had taken place just a day ago. According to the Yonkers PD's post, officers knew upon being spotted the driver would attempt to flee.

Enter Lt Quezada of the Pattern Crimes Unit, who managed to sneak up on the driver while stopped at a traffic light. At that moment Lt Quezada deployed a new piece of police tech called the Stop Stick Tire Deflation Device. As it its name implies, this new device is used to deflate the tires on vehicles in order to "prevent and terminate pursuits".

The deployment and usage of the deflation device proved successful and drastically limited the drivers ability to flee from the scene. A short time later more officers met the driver in the stolen vehicle and used the device again, which again proved successful.

With tires deflated and the vehicle out of commission, both the driver and the passenger attempted to flee on foot in efforts to evade the Yonkers PD. The two would attempt to lose officers by running into a near by apartment building, however that attempt would also fail and both suspects were apprehended on the buildings roof.

Suspects Identified and Charges Against

Yonkers PD were successfully able to identify both the driver and passenger in the stolen vehicle. The driver was confirmed to be one Dabir Imam and the passenger was identified as one Eric Zapata.

Dabir has been charged with the crimes of...

• Criminal Possession of Stolen Property 3rd Degree
• Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument 1st Degree
• Reckless Endangerment 2nd Degree
• Unlawful Fleeing of a Police Officer 3rd Degree

Zapata was also charged, however his charges of larceny stemmed from a previous offense in Yonkers.

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Over the course of the handling of this event, no individuals were hurt or injured and two, as the Yonkers PD put it, "bad guys" are now in jail. The Yonkers PD post concluded with thanks to their own dedicated officers and credit to the new Stop Stick devices that made this encounter a successful one.