You’ll never guess what he lied about…
A truly wild story out of New York City features numerous bad decisions which culminated in a huge police operation performed under false pretenses. Hold on, because it’s going to take a bit to unpack everything that happened, especially since the local news just skims over one of the most shocking details.
Careful about confronting car thieves in New Jersey, as a man recently found out the hard way here.
On Halloween night 32-year-old James Reyes in Hollis, Queens called police and reported his Ford Mustang convertible was stolen at about 6:45 pm. Reyes claimed a 7-year-old special needs child was left in the car which was idling in a driveway when it was swiped. He did that to speed up the recovery of his beloved pony car, which apparently worked but not in the way he hoped.
I had a cop once joke to me that the way you get the cops to respond to a prowler on your property is to claim you’re about to shoot the guy. Well, Reyes probably heard something similar but didn’t get it wasn’t serious advice. A huge police presence descended on the area, blocking off 4 city blocks while helicopters flew overhead and officers rummaged through yards.
Police found the Mustang quickly since it was only half a mile away. However, they kept searching for the fictitious child, which was of course the real concern. Once they caught the alleged thief in a foot chase, arresting an unnamed 17-year-old, they started to realize they’d been lied to about the kidnapped child.
Now Reyes is facing some potentially serious consequences for wasting police resources. He was given a desk appearance ticket and the local news added he hasn’t received his stolen car yet. No doubt he’s going to be at least paying some big fines.
Now here’s the other shocking bit which the local news just skimmed over: the car thief was immediately released to his parents and not charged with a crime. All the outrage is directed at Reyes, not the thief, who apparently faces zero consequences for stealing a car. I’m not saying Reyes didn’t do anything wrong, he absolutely did, but perhaps this is part of the reason car thefts are so out of control in cities like New York. Thieves either aren’t charged with a crime or they get a slap on the wrist, then are let back onto the streets to steal again. But the local news really just wants to focus on Reyes and tell you to be outraged about his lie, that’s all. Unbelievable.
Source: ABC 7 NY
