Domino’s Delivery Man Helps Cops Catch Thief, While Meeting 30-Minute Delivery Guarantee
A Domino’s delivery man helped police catch a suspect while still managing to make his delivery within the 30-minute window.
Alou Bathily, 21, happened to be on his bike on March 29 making a delivery when he noticed New York police officers chasing a suspect on the Upper West Side. Bathily’s quick thinking helped police apprehend a bad guy, according to a Facebook post shared by NYPD’s 20th Precinct.
The post read that police had been looking for six individuals that had been harassing a woman on the street before taking her AirPod headphones. They had almost given up on their search when they recognized one of the men and ordered him to stop. Predictably, the suspect did not stop, but chose to run.
That’s when Bathily entered the scene. Noticing the police chase, he yelled to the officers that he would catch the man — and that is exactly what he did.
“I told myself I’m gonna help the policeman to arrest the guy, to stop the guy,” Bathily told WLNY about the incident.
Bathily, from West Africa and only in America for two months, said the suspect tried to run from him but he threw him to the ground and, for good measure, “sat on him on the floor.”
The NYPD Facebook post reported that the first “cool” thing about the incident was Bathily pulling his bicycle across the suspect’s path and delaying him until officers were able to arrive at the scene and arrest the man. The post added that the second “cool” thing about the situation was the fact that Bathily still “managed to honor the 30 minute delivery guarantee on the pie.”
Authorities said that during the chase, the suspect, Lovell Ambrister, 17, began throwing $50 bills from his pockets onto the street. The bills were reportedly counterfeit money he was using to buy cheap items so he could get real money as change.
JUSTICE DELIVERED: A fleeing robbery suspect was no match for a Domino's delivery man in NYC. He caught the alleged thief and held him until police arrived. Turns out the suspect was also peddling fake money too. https://t.co/EpXOtR9PIX #CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/xsJPcUkuo2
— CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) April 6, 2019
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio even weighed in on the matter, calling Bathily a “delivery hero” in a Twitter post, adding that the entire event was a good reason for New Yorkers to choose Domino’s.
“The police man say to me… just thank you,” Bathily told WLNY.
Ambrister was charged with robbery, forgery, and trademark counterfeiting, WLNY reported. He has seven prior arrests including robbery and grand larceny, according to the NYPD Facebook post.
Police are reportedly still searching for the other individuals who were harassing the woman.
