He was trying to do a good deed - but ended up feeling like a common criminal.Freelance photographer Carlos Alayo says he was late for a business meeting when he spotted a wallet lying abandoned on a subway platform bench.
He picked it up and put it in his bag, with every intention of later finding its owner, but as he rushed to board the 6 train last Wednesday at Grand Central, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Where's the wallet?" the undercover cop asked him.
Alayo, 32, is one of the latest New Yorkers ensnared in the NYPD's clampdown on thieves - known as Operation Lucky Bag.
After giving the officers the wallet, he was frisked, made to put his hands against the wall and hand over his identification so they could do a criminal history check.
Man who picks up wallet to help feels discriminated against by cops
It's disgusting that with all that's going on in this city, Bloomberg's "morality police" have nothing better to do than entrap people in the transit system. Hey Carlos, under NY law, you have 10 days to report found property. Therefore, you were arrested without cause. Call the NYCLU. Case dismissed.
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14 comments:
Right-o !
And if a brothel illegal gambling
or drug operation was going on
under the very noses of some NYPD "officers".....
they'd probably look the other way.
That's because they're getting "their cut".....no doubt !
That's precisely what was happening
in the 109th in Flushing last year......
the noted home of many such illegal activities !
if I found a wallet on a subway platform I'd probably bring it over to a token clerk right away. I'd feel funny about sticking it in my pocket even if I'd planned on returning it later.
Actually, I would make sure I returned it myself. I don't trust the police or the subway personnel to do so.
I guess crime is down so they have to make some up!
Kind of like their so they say non-existant ticket quota.
The asswipes should look for some real crime...
Russell M.
You'd better get a receipt for it.....
and its contents...."Ken".
You sound like you're too trusting
to be a real New Yorker....
but God bless you anyway!
"And if a brothel...was going on under the very noses of some NYPD ' officers'"
Read the classified in Shenkler's Tribune AND now Blank's Times/Ledger group: It's OPEN brothel city!
When are these whore houses going to be shut down?
It's holiday season folks....
visiting $$$$$$s from abroad time for NYC.
The NYPD wants to make a point
to reassure tourists that both they
and their money are safe.
After reading this, if I found a purse or wallet laying around a subway, I would just leave it.
Good move.....
it just might be a "wallet bomb"
left behind by an Al Queda operative.
(Just kidding).
Anyway.....the dollar ain't worth
what it used to be.
Now if it contained Euros.....
I might risk it !
Complete entrapment. How can you call someone a thief who finds something?
What you all are failing to understand is the now Carlos is in the System. Don't ever let these bozos take any of your information for anything. The next thing you know your picture will be in a mugshot book and some smarmy detective will be goading a poor soul into choosing you "It was him, right? This guy right here?"
I'd love to see what would happen if someone (maybe a reporter) started anonymously "returning" wallets to patrolmen that they had "found" and then seeing how many of them actually get back to the "owner" with all the cash intact.
Yeah....
some "patrolman" at a cash filled crime scene
may be like some "firemen"
going through a house putting out a fire.
You'd better have a photographed
full inventory (with a notary's seal on it)
of your domicile's contents !
Anything missing ?
I once saw a bank guard
quickly put his foot
over a ten dollar bill
that had fallen onto the floor.
When my friend's eyes caught his....
the guard told us he was turning it in !
Yeah.....to be sure !
This guy was not arrested.
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