A 28-year-old Yonkers man is facing multiple charges after police say he refused to stop for detectives during a traffic enforcement sweep, drove home instead, and then left his 11-month-old child alone inside the vehicle while he ran into his house. Detectives caught up with him there and took him into custody on Wednesday, October 28.
According to DailyVoice.com, Emil Sanchez Mercado kept driving after detectives tried to pull him over, leading them on a pursuit that ended at his own residence. Authorities said that once he arrived home, Mercado left the infant in the car and ran inside, prompting detectives to take him into custody at the scene.
Police say the attempted stop happened during a citywide initiative aimed at license plate violations and unregistered drivers. The crackdown specifically targeted obscured and altered plates, fraudulent temporary registrations, and unregistered or uninsured vehicles, along with other violations, the outlet's reporting states.
Charges Pile Up After the Chase
Yonkers police charged Mercado with reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation, unlawful fleeing of a police officer, and endangering the welfare of a child, per the same account. Under New York law, aggravated unlicensed operation applies when a driver operates a vehicle on a public highway while knowing or having reason to know their license or driving privilege has been suspended, revoked, or otherwise withdrawn, according to the New York State Senate.
Unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree is classified as a class A misdemeanor, per the New York State Senate. Endangering the welfare of a child is likewise a class A misdemeanor under state law, though the statute includes a specific exception involving a child who is not more than 30 days old, the Senate's legal code shows.
A Broader Push Against Ghost Plates
The Yonkers initiative that led to the attempted stop fits into a wider regional effort against so-called ghost plates, which law enforcement agencies have flagged as a growing problem. Yonkers and New Rochelle police both reported seeing an increase in ghost plate use, according to News 12 Hudson Valley.
Officials have said drivers either conceal their plates to dodge tolls or use them to help commit crimes, per that same report. Yonkers police told News 12 they use technology to match vehicles by other identifying features as they enter or leave the city, allowing them to flag cars even when the plate itself is hidden. New Rochelle police separately reported impounding 62 vehicles for improper plate display throughout 2025, with 25 more impounded already by the time of that spring report.
That regional crackdown, known as Operation Plate Check, involved New York State Police and multiple local agencies and ran statewide, according to News 12's coverage. It is within that same kind of enforcement push, now underway locally in Yonkers, that detectives first tried to stop Mercado.
