A man took a taxicab for a joyride in Lower Manhattan early Sunday after the driver left the vehicle unattended, cops said.
Police responded to a call from a 57-year-old cab driver, who reported that his car had been stolen when he briefly stepped out around 3:40 a.m. at Church and Murray streets in Tribeca, cops said.
That’s when Mohammed Azeem, 30, jumped in and drove off. The joyride lasted an hour, during which Azeem struck two other vehicles that were stopped at a red light, police reported.
Police nabbed the car thief an hour later at West Side Highway and Laight Street — less than a mile from where he’d started. Cops said they used the cab’s GPS to locate it.
The 1st Precinct tweeted a photo of the grateful cab driver standing with an officer who helped recover his stolen car.
Azeem, who is from Crown Heights, was arrested at the scene and hit with a slew of charges, including grand larceny, reckless driving, traffic violation, and criminal possession of stolen property.