The driver of an SUV dragged a police lieutenant half a block and hit six pedestrians in an alleged escape attempt after an officer pulled him over yesterday afternoon in Midtown for an incident of road rage and discovered drugs in the car, police said.

Police Detective Bernard Gifford, who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, gave this account.

The driver, Hugo Palomino, 51, of Harrison, was proceeding down Broadway in a leased black Honda CR-V with Connecticut plates when he and the driver of another car got into a yelling match. The police lieutenant pulled over both cars on Broadway between 40th and 41st streets around 2:45 p.m. and asked Mr. Palomino, who was accompanied by 21-year-old Victoria Chason of West End Avenue, for his license and registration.

While Mr. Palomino was producing his identification, the lieutenant noticed a bag of white powder, which he suspected might be cocaine. Mr. Palomino allegedly stepped on the gas pedal while the lieutenant’s arms were inside the car, dragging him about half a block before the lieutenant fell off.

The suspect drove another block before swerving into Golda Meir Square, between 39th and 40th streets, outside an office building at 1411 Broadway. The SUV hit six pedestrians, causing them minor injuries, and a gray Mercedes-Benz, before crashing into a massive concrete planter, according to police.

A vendor at a fruit stand at 39th Street and Broadway, Kahn Naque, said he “saw the car fly onto the sidewalk and a guy jump out and start running.”

The suspect, whom Mr. Naque described as “very fast,” fled east, pursued by a group of five or six that included a police officer, a security guard who usually patrols Seventh Avenue, and a few Good Samaritans, the vendor said. They caught up with the man at the corner of 39th Street and Sixth Avenue, police said.

Mr. Palomino and Ms. Chason were taken to the Midtown South police precinct, where police ran a blood test on him to determine whether he had been driving under the influence. Police charged him yesterday with criminal possession of a controlled substance, assault, and leaving the scene of an accident. Ms. Chason was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Emergency Medical Service units took the six injured pedestrians to area hospitals, and the injured lieutenant, who suffered some minor head injuries, to St. Vincent’s Hospital. His name was not released.