NEW YORK (AP) – Police said Friday they have arrested a 17-year-old girl who assaulted one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s personal employees and then stole his car.

A male suspect is still on the loose, according to Capt. Frank Lomia of the police department in Hackensack, N.J., where the carjacking took place Wednesday morning.

A member of Bloomberg’s personal staff, Gradimir Bosnjak, was beaten and forced out of the mayor’s Lexus while parked in the car, waiting to pick up another employee.

After a scuffle, the pair of carjackers then sped away.

. Police found the vehicle about two hours later, abandoned in nearby Fair Lawn, N.J.

The girl, whose name was not released because she is a juvenile, was described as a recent runaway from her home in Phillipsburg, N.J. Police said she had been reported missing days earlier.

She is said to be cooperating with the investigation and was charged with aggravated assault and carjacking late Thursday. The teen was also charged with theft because a briefcase, cell phone and digital camera belonging to Bloomberg’s employee have not been found.

Lomia said Friday that the suspects initially approached Bosnjak because they needed money to get to Paterson, N.J., where they were staying.

“At first they wanted money from him, and then they thought this might be a way to get home, so they took his car,” Lomia said.

Bloomberg, who has not driven the car for years, was not involved in the incident. He employs a staff to take care of his personal matters and tend to his various homes.

His spokesman, Stu Loeser, said Friday that “the mayor thanks the Hackensack Police Department for their hard work.”

AP-ES-10-20-06 1435EDT

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