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Seven mile airport van ride from hell ends with guns pulled
In what is probably one of the worst ways to start your trip in the United States, five French tourists took a seven mile ride through several New York neighborhoods while being chased by cops.The tourists just arrived at JFK and had been directed towards a waiting van for hire by a "steerer", who waits for unsuspecting tourists arriving at the airport, sending them to unauthorized taxi cabs and vans.
When cops spotted the steerer, they tried to apprehend him and his driver, but upon approaching the van, the driver floored it and drove away.
The van took cops on a 7 mile chase through New York, though they were finally able to arrest the driver and his accomplice after their van hit a gate at a USPS facility.
One police officer was injured when he tried to grab the keys out of the speeding van and one passenger hurt her arm when she tried to climb out of the moving van.
The big lesson here is to pay attention to all those annoying warning messages at the airport to avoid unauthorized transportation services, and to stick to pre-arranged car services and the official taxi line.
Filed under: North America, United States, Transportation, Airports, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick Hawkins Jun 24th 2009 3:08PM
I'd like to see more stringent enforcement of the "no unauthorized transportation services" at airports, complete with beatings.
Scott Carmichael Jun 24th 2009 3:37PM
Public beatings would solve a lot of problems at the airport.
BenjaminNRT Jun 24th 2009 7:50PM
I hope they got a free ride anyway.
Wout Jun 25th 2009 6:22AM
No, the big lesson is that none of this would have happened if instead of chasing them they would simply have noted down the license plate and appearance of the drivers. No chase, no accidents.