Cutting to the chase: A 14-year-old was arrested after the attempted theft of two cars on North Moore yesterday afternoon. Both cars were recovered within minutes and while one accomplice got away, two were caught and one was charged with grand larceny auto. The story goes like this:

Real estate broker Andrew Azoulay was at 1 North Moore, the swanky building on the northwest corner with West Broadway, retrieving a client’s car so it could be shipped to Florida. (The building has a two-car garage attached to the townhouse within the building.) They pulled out the client’s car — a $300,000 Mercedes “G Wagon” — and left on the street with the key inside, as you do, while Andrew’s car, a Mercedes SUV, sat parked behind it, also with the key inside. This all at 3:30 in the afternoon.

“I go to lock the house and I see the reverse lights on, so I run to the driver’s side and start banging on the window,” Andrew said. “But because it was rush hour, he didn’t get farther than Varick.”

At that point, there is an audience of firefighters from Ladder 8 watching the scene so the teenaged driver puts the wagon in park, hops out and runs. (BTW, what 14-year-old city kid knows how to drive??) His two accomplices in the SUV behind him do the same. But within minutes the NYPD is at the scene and officers manage to intercept two of the kids at Canal. The one was charged with grand larceny auto.

“The complainant was able to get the individual out of his vehicle and the individual fled on foot,” the police report said. “After a short canvass, the individual was located in front of 499 Canal Street, and the car keys were recovered.”

Auto theft is not big in the district — there were 17 charges in 2025 and 11 in 2024 — but this is not a isolated incident. The last one I reported was in January, when a woman was forced out of her car on Broadway and Reade.

This is maybe a cautionary tale? For those of you who leave their car with the keys in it on the street, don’t. Clearly this was staked out by the teens, who are certainly looking in the right place if they want fancy cars.

“I’ve been leaving my keys in the car for years, and my wife has been calling me an idiot for doing it all that time,” Eliot said. “I guess she was right.”