Authorities searched on Friday for a man they said stole a police car in New Jersey and fled to New York City.

The Bergen County prosecutor's office said Juan Manuel Menendez was the subject of a multi-agency manhunt. Authorities had earlier identified him as Eduardo Santiago Carrasquillo but later said it was one of several aliases he has used. Police said he also goes by Juan Menendez Lazaro.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said its officers were assisting New Jersey authorities in the search for Menendez in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan.

Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said police had been conducting an investigation Friday morning at the Skyview Motel in Fort Lee when Menendez stole an unmarked police car, struck an officer and tried to strike another officer with it before fleeing in it over the George Washington Bridge. Police said they fired shots at him but didn't know whether he had been hit.

The vehicle was recovered in New York shortly after the chase, but Menendez remained at large as of Friday evening.

A police officer duty bag containing a department-issued raid jacket and .45-caliber ammunition was missing from the vehicle, Molinelli said.

The prosecutor's office and the Fort Lee Police Department were asking the public to contact them with any information.

Police said Menendez should be considered armed and dangerous.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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