The driver who struck a policeman at a Manhattan crime scene told authorities it was intentional, adding, “F–k these cops, it’s a lesson to him,’’ sources said Friday — with the mow-down caught on shocking video.
Sahara Dula — a 24-year-old Brooklynite whose lawyer said mentors kids to stay off drugs — was driving her black Lexus the wrong way on the Upper East Side while high on marijuana Wednesday when she barreled into the NYPD officer, officials and sources said.
“I told the cop I wanted to go straight, and he wouldn’t move, so I hit him. I did it on purpose,’’ Dula later told investigators, according to court papers.
“F–k these cops! He wouldn’t move!’’ she screamed a few minutes after the incident, the documents claim —with a source saying Dula added, “F–k these cops, it’s a lesson to him, and hopefully he doesn’t want to be a cop anymore.”
Footage posted on X late Thursday shows Dula, a college criminal justice graduate and former doorman, driving her vehicle the wrong way on Park Avenue near East 71st Street around 4:30 p.m.
At the time, officers were in the area investigating an unrelated robbery at a nearby high-end clothing store and had closed off part of the road.
One of the cops can be seen in the video walking up to Dula’s Lexus to force her into the correct lane, as someone can be heard yelling, “Be careful, be careful!”
Instead of stopping, the motorist hits the gas and strikes the cop head-on, causing him to roll up onto the hood of her car and land hard on the street.
Other officers rush to the wounded cop’s side as he winces in pain and lies on the ground.
In the corner of the frame, it appears that cops immediately hauled out and cuffed Dula.
The struck officer suffered a broken leg and bruising on multiple areas of his body, according to court papers.
Dula was charged with first-degree attempted assault, attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and operating a vehicle while ability impaired by drugs and reckless driving, according to the criminal complaint.
The suspect “admitted to smoking marijuana,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Lucy Shephard said during Dula’s Friday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Marijuana and rolling papers were found in her vehicle, according to Shephard.
Shephard — who called Dula’s alleged actions “egregious” — asked that she be held on $100,000 bail, but Judge John Zhuo Wang set bail at $25,000. The suspect did not immediately make bail.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry on Friday applauded the fact that Dula would be held behind bars — but questioned why she wasn’t slapped with a more serious charge.“We’re glad that this individual is being kept in jail, but we don’t understand why she isn’t being charged with attempted murder,” Hendry said in a statement.
“She tried to run down and kill a New York City police officer. She proudly admits it, but she still isn’t facing the maximum penalty. This kind of leniency has led to thousands of police officers being attacked and injured.
“We’re not going to let this case become just another statistic,” he continued. “We will be following up to ensure that a message is sent — if you attack and injure a New York City police officer, you are going to face the full force of the law.”
Dula may have dodged an attempted murder rap because of questions about whether she intended to kill the cop, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
The top rap is still a very high charge, they said.
Dula’s only prior arrest in the Big Apple was in March 2022 for criminal mischief stemming from an incident near Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal Mall in which she destroyed property with a metal barrier, cops and police sources said. The charges were eventually dropped in the case, which was sealed.
Dula also has prior arrests in New Hampshire, Shepherd said.
In 2020, she allegedly failed to stop at an intersection in the town of Henniker and struck another vehicle before she fled the scene but was quickly located, according to a report in The Granite Quill.
She was also arrested on a simple assault charge after an incident at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire’s capital city, Patch reported at the time.
In court, Dula’s lawyer, Patricia Wright, argued to the judge that her client “wants to express to you that she’s trying to move on from her ties from New Hampshire.”
Dula suffers from bipolar disorder, takes multiple medications and receives mental health treatment, Wright said.
The Brooklyn resident — who supports her family, including her mother — runs her own company where she mentors kids on Saturdays through music and helps them stay off the streets, and away from drugs and gangs, according to Wright.
Dula worked as a doorwoman in Brooklyn from November 2021 to April of 2022 and before that, as a gas station cashier in Concord, according to her LinkedIn page.
She studied at New England College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and communication studies.
“My assertiveness, attention to detail, and passion are traits that I believe any employer would be happy to have,’’ her profile says.
Dula’s career goal involves “joining a company that specializes in crisis communication through traditional techniques and social media,” she wrote on the professional profile.
“As a child I wanted to learn anything related to Criminal Justice, I was intrigued by the Criminal Justice system and their responses to tragic events,” she added. “As I grew older, I began to develop an interest in all things communications related writing, media, negotiating, proper speech etiquette.”
Dula lives alone in a Prospect Lefferts Gardens apartment building, after her grandmother and father both died in the past year, according to the building super, who did not want to be identified.
The super described Dula and unfriendly and gruff, adding that she “smokes a lot of weed.”
“She’s like a rude person,” he said.“Not smiling for nobody. All the time she’s like that. She was even like that with her grandmother and father.”