Police are searching for a group of luxury car thieves who broke into a Hell’s Kitchen apartment building garage on Sunday and crashed the one vehicle they were able to get out of the high-rise complex.
The NYPD says the group got into the garage on West 43rd Street near 11th Avenue in Manhattan shortly before 6 a.m. Investigators say the thieves tried to make off with four vehicles, but only got one out of the garage, a blue McLaren. An NBC New York crew saw a second vehicle, an SUV, with a smashed windshield.
Police say the thief who took off in the McLaren didn’t make it more than a block before losing control and crashing at West 42nd and 11th, outside a FedEx Ship Center. The car was seen next to a traffic signal with its airbags deployed.
Police say a car thief lost control of this McLaren sports car moments after stealing it from a Hell’s Kitchen parking garage (Image: NBC New York)
“I couldn’t believe it was my car,” said a man who identified himself to News 4 as the McLaren’s owner, and asked that his name not be used. “I was walking out getting breakfast and then, when I came back, I saw that this looked like, like, like my car,” the man said.
He checked and saw the license plate confirming it was his car. “When I did see it was my car, there’s a million things going through my head.”
Between four and five men took off in another vehicle, NBC New York has learned.
An SUV with a smashed windshield inside the garage where thieves tried to steal four vehicles. (Image: NBC New York)
Police say all of the targeted vehicles have been recovered and no injuries are reported. No detailed description of the wanted men has been released.