A man in New York City has been charged with reckless endangerment after he chased a bike thief in his van and rammed him in an incident that also saw a pedestrian hospitalised.
The shocking incident, which happened in Midtown Manhattan's Hell’s Kitchen district, was caught on by a CCTV camera with a WABC-TV News journalist sharing the footage on Twitter.
Local resident James Mansfield, 47, had been loading what the New York Daily News said police had described as “a high-end bike” into his van when the opportunistic thief grabbed it and rode it away, against the flow of traffic, on 50th Street.
Mansfield gave pursuit in his van, also heading in the wrong direction on the one-way street and crashed into the rear of the bike at the intersection with 9th Avenue.
A 31-year-old male pedestrian was also hurt in the collision and was treated in hospital for cuts on his head.
Mansfield jumped out of the van and according to eyewitnesses started punching the would-be thief, who managed to get free and fled the scene.
The New York Police Department said that Mansfield had been arrested for reckless endangerment following the incident yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, his bike was reported to have been totally destroyed when he crashed into it with his van.
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11 comments
Should learn where to punch someone so they can't get up and run away.
You win pointless macho bragpost for this week.
there is a subtle difference between punching and fisting
Oh, chapeau! This comment will keep my simple mind happy for days
File under ‘Pyrrhic victories’
Looks like a Shimano support van....
Jaywalking, the ped was clearly in the middle of the road and deserved everything that was coming to them. If that was a police car mowing them down they'd be charged with aiding and abetting the cycle theif.
But hey, 'murica is the land of the free so you can do what you like.
"Jaywalking"? "middle of the road" , well yes, on a crossing. It's a one way street, but maybe he should have looked the other way , you know just in case some nutter in a van was chasing someone the wrong way up the road......
WHOOSH!
Well, that turned out well didn't it...