A wild crash in Brooklyn ended with Good Samaritans chasing down the driver who police say was intoxicated and armed.
Police say Andy James, 39, was driving a 2009 Jaguar north on Troy Avenue near President Street in Crown Heights around 2:30PM on Friday when he plowed into at least 5 vehicles. Surveillance footage show the car jump the curb, narrowly missing pedestrians. [See news report below]
An off-duty member of the Coast Guard witnessed the ordeal and chased after him, all while recording it on his cell phone. After tackling him to the ground, other good Samaritans helped hold the suspect down until police arrived.
In the video attached below, the suspect is seen dropping the gun while being chased, and then being apprehended.
Cops found marijuana and an open container in his car, which didn’t have an up-to-date inspection.
James was arrested and hit with a slew of charges, including reckless driving, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, and operating a vehicle above 0.8.
James has previously faced charges relating to guns, marijuana and robbery, police said.
The NYPD’s 71st precinct thanked the good Samaritans in a tweet of the suspect’s handgun.
https://twitter.com/NYPD71Pct/status/1111776727494217728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1111776727494217728&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewyork.cbslocal.com%2F2019%2F03%2F30%2Fcrown-heights-car-on-sidewalk-good-samaritans-tackle-drive%2F
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5 Responses
Not only is the phrase “Good Samaritan” a serious shailoh in terms of being “Avodah Zarah”, but you also misued the term (it refers to, ignoring the anti-Semitic origin, helping somone as in doing hesed – NOT catching an escaped criminal).
Catching a criminal goes back to the common law tradition of “Hue and cry” .
The Samaritans are remembered by our people as being anything but good. Any chance YWN could use another expression?
The guys who caught the apparent bad guy were Jews, not Samaritans. I would expect YWN to get that right…. But maybe my expectation is unfounded.
Seriously, using the phrase “Good Samaritan” is mamash apikurses. It is a quote, and a theological concept from the Christian religion, and has very strong anti-Jewish connotations.
In YWN eyes Crown Heights Shmira members are just “other good Samaritans”
Whats wrong with reporting the news like it happened instead of making up your own version of events?