Linden, NJ – Police body camera footage of last month’s arrest of former Major League Baseball player Lenny Dykstra shows police talking to Dykstra and an Uber driver, both of whom alleged the other made them fear for their lives.
The video footage was obtained Monday following an Open Public Records Act request to the City of Linden.
Dykstra, 55, was arrested around 3:30 a.m. May 23 outside Linden Police Headquarters in connection to allegedly threatening an Uber driver. Police were alerted to the incident after a vehicle sped into the attached parking garage.
The driver, identified by police as a 47-year-old Roselle resident, ran from the car and told the officers that moments earlier he had picked up Dykstra in Linden for a scheduled fare. Dykstra tried to change the destination from Clark to Staten Island, and when the driver refused, Dykstra allegedly put a weapon to his head and threatened to kill him, police said.
In the video the Uber driver tells police he had informed Dykstra that he can’t change the destination to Staten Island because that information is not on his phone. The driver also tells police Dyksta put a bag that he thought contained a gun to the back of his head.
“He told everyone I kidnapped him,” the Uber driver said in the video.
According to police reports, Dykstra allegedly placed a black pill bag with an object [the driver] believed to be a gun to his head and stated ‘take me to Staten Island or I’ll blow your f—— head off.”
No weapon was located, but police said they did recover a quantity of cocaine, MDMA and marijuana among Dykstra’s belongings.
In the video Dykstra is heard telling Linden police “I have no weapon.”
As police talk to Dysktra to find out what happened, the former baseball player is seen repeatedly trying to move toward his bag located in the Uber vehicle parked nearby.
He is heard telling police the Uber driver was traveling 100 mph and had locked him in the vehicle.
“He kidnapped me,” Dykstra said in the video.
Police tell him to relax and then instruct him to put his hands behind his back because he’s being placed under arrest.
“Oh my God,” Dykstra said.
Dykstra was charged with third-degree making terroristic threats, third-degree charges for possession of cocaine and MDMA and disorderly persons charges for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was released on a summons and is scheduled to be appear in court next month.
In a news conference last Friday, Dykstra attorney said his client was the true victim, adding Dykstra has filed false imprisonment charges against the Uber driver, Brian Lutty that are pending in Linden Municipal Court.
According to the attorney, Dykstra, a former Major League Baseball player of the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies got into an argument with the Uber driver because he was apparently going the wrong way.
The driver started driving erratically, changing lanes and running red lights, which prompted Dykstra to call 911 twice on his cell phone, but the calls were dropped, according to the attorney.
The attorney said Dykstra asked the driver to let him out, but the driver wouldn’t stop and engaged the vehicle’s child locks.
“I was literally in fear for my life,” said Dykstra, nicknamed Nails for his aggressive approach on the ballfield.
The Uber driver also feared for his life, thinking Dykstra was going to kill him, according to the police reports.