‘I Floored It,’ Captain Says

Posted on September 5, 2020 at 8:46 am by Carol Tannenhauser

Capt. Neil Zuber.

By Carol Tannenhauser

On Tuesday evening, officers of the twentieth Precinct apprehended two alleged robbers who’ve been terrorizing electrical bike — e-bike — riders on the Higher West Aspect for the previous a number of weeks. Half sting, half high-speed chase, the story of their seize and arrest was informed intimately to WSR by Captain Neil Zuber (proven above at a gathering), commander of the twentieth Precinct. Right here’s how Captain Zuber described the occasions.

We had plenty of e-bikes being stolen, not simply right here, however throughout town. Supply individuals use them largely for delivering meals, however they’re very fashionable with others as nicely. They’re price a few thousand {dollars} every.

At first, they stole the bikes after they had been left unattended. Then, as they received extra brazen, they started pushing individuals off the bikes, beating them up, and taking the bikes. At the least 4 of our victims had been handled within the hospital as a result of they had been injured in violent assaults.

A number of weeks in the past we began realizing a sample was growing. Victims had been speaking about two individuals leaping out of a automobile. Some had been saying a black BMW and a few had been giving us partial license plate numbers, however it wasn’t sufficient for our pc system to trace.

Then, on Tuesday, September 1st, at about 2 p.m., one other particular person was robbed. Two individuals jumped out of a BMW, pushed him off his bike, and took the bike. This sufferer was capable of get his telephone out and report one of many individuals who robbed him, however the important thing factor he did was get a transparent image of the license plate. Utilizing our license plate readers across the metropolis, we had been capable of observe the automobile because it went to the Bronx, over the 145th Avenue Bridge. We radioed forward, however apparently they didn’t go house. So, we waited.

At about 10 o’clock that evening, we received an e mail alert that the automobile had simply come throughout the bridge from the Bronx and was getting into Manhattan. We knew they had been coming to the Higher West Aspect to buy groceries. Instantly we despatched our individuals to the realm the place they at all times hit us: the west aspect of the precinct, close to Riverside Drive. We put everybody who was working on the market. We crammed the west aspect of the precinct with eyes. We additionally informed them, should you see a supply particular person, shadow them, as a result of they’re targets and perhaps we’ll discover them that method.

Murphy’s Regulation being what it’s, that evening, for the primary time, they did a theft on the east aspect of the precinct. The primary police automobile received there about ten minutes after it occurred. I jumped into my automobile. By that point I knew we had been behind them. They had been already making their method to the bridge. So, I floored it. I put my lights on and headed north on the Henry Hudson Parkway.

I received as much as the bridge and there was an unmarked automobile sitting there. It turned out to be two officers from the twentieth Precinct. With out exaggeration, I simply had time to place my automobile in park and switch my headlights off, when the BMW crossed straight in entrance of us. Certainly one of us pulled behind it, the opposite in entrance, and we stopped them proper there, 100 yards onto the bridge. They had been so shocked to see us that there was completely no battle. They surrendered proper there and we had been capable of arrest them.

WATCH: E-Bike Robberies- How the NYPD Tracked Down A Offender.

Deliverymen have been getting attacked by a robber going for his or her e-bikes. @MylesMill experiences on how the @NYPD20Pct and @NYPDDetectives tracked down the culprits. pic.twitter.com/Gdr9awh3VQ

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 5, 2020

That isn’t the tip of the story. Captain Zuber defined that they nonetheless don’t know the place the bikes are being offered. “We all know they’re not utilizing them simply to pleasure experience,” he mentioned. “Now our investigation is taking us to who’re the people who find themselves shopping for them for resale? Who’s driving this cottage, black-market trade that’s happening citywide?”

You possibly can hear the joy in Captain Zuber’s voice. “I’ve to let you know,” he mentioned, “it was so good going on the market and doing the hands-on police work once more — so a lot better than sitting in on Zoom conferences,” he added, laughing. “To have that optimistic consequence was nice. We might have handed it off, however we needed to be there ourselves to ensure it received accomplished.“

He turned to the query of an alleged “police slowdown.”

“It couldn’t be farther from the reality,” he contended. “There’s no slowdown. These officers need to exit and do the job they signed as much as do. That is simply proving it.”