I was walking around northwest Tribeca, counting vacant storefronts, when I came upon a police vehicle outside 428 Greenwich, along with a bunch of people standing around watching. Several of them had big cameras, so I briefly thought they were paparazzi, but an agitated young woman said that she was (working?) in Sushi Azabu when a man came in and asked if he could use the restroom. When a bunch of cops burst in soon after, she bolted.

I crossed the street to get a better angle on the proceedings, and struck up a game of telephone with other bystanders. Then, as more and more cops arrived at the scene, a guy who claimed to have seen the whole incident unfold explained what happened: Three young men, he said, crashed a stolen car a couple of blocks north, then ran from the scene. He said they might have gotten away, except bystanders directed the police to where they were headed. As we were absorbing the info, a cop came out of 428 Greenwich, and we heard him say that they got two of them but one was still missing. Then they brought the two alleged perps out (see below).

Stay tuned….