This teenage tourist fresh off the plane from Panama got a pretty great welcome to NYC yesterday, when he ended up helping cops catch a criminal cab driver who was notorious for overcharging passengers.
The teenager, 17-year-old Aldo Sosa, and his family had just arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and were approached by livery cab driver Bhupinder Singh for a ride to Manhattan. The family followed Singh into the car, despite the fact that, as Sosa said later, they had a "bad hunch about it."
Undercover cops saw the family enter the town car and immediately followed in their own SUV and quickly attempted to block the car. Singh backed up and sped off, initiating a chase - with the Sosa family still inside. Sosa, though unsure of what was going on, immediately jumped into action.
"He put it in reverse and drove away," he said. "That’s when we decided to take control of the car. He locked us in the car when the cops came over. We thought we were being kidnapped — we didn’t even think, we just had to get out of the situation."
Sosa, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, took control of the wheel from Singh and crashed the car into a guardrail. "I took the shift and the steering wheel and we started to fight for control of the car. I finally got the car over to the side of the road and we hit the rail," he explained. Singh was apprehended by cops shortly after.
"It’s our first time in New York and we never thought anything like this would ever happen. Nothing like this ever happens in Panama," Sosa added.
Welcome to New York, kid!
[via New York Daily News]
