What to Know
- A group of joyriders sneaked off with an empty New York City bus and took it on an hours-long adventure from the Bronx to Queens and back
- Police said the bus was stolen around 7:40 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 23 near the Crossings Mall in the Bronx; it was dumped 4 hours later, undamaged
- Cops say some of the individuals may be linked to the theft of another MTA bus, this one from a depot in Brooklyn, earlier the same day
A teenager was arrested in charged with the theft of an empty MTA bus that was taken on an hours-long adventure from the Bronx to Queens and back, the NYPD said Saturday.
Five other suspects in the joyride, some of whom are also believed to have taken another MTA bus earlier on the same day, remain at large.
Mamoudou Camara, 18, of the Bronx, was charged with four counts of grand larceny and four counts of criminal possession of stolen property.
"Anyone considering stealing a public bus should understand that it is very dangerous, they will get caught, and they will face very serious consequences,” said Andy Byford, president of the NYC Transit Authority.
Police say six people -- two young women and four young men -- got on a bus that was parked on Hunts Point Avenue near the Crossings Mall in the Bronx just before 8 p.m. Dec. 23 and took it for a four-hour whirl between boroughs. They dumped it in front of a building on Prospect Avenue shortly before midnight.
Police say the MTA didn't report the bus stolen until after it was already found the next day. The vehicle wasn't damaged.
Cops are also looking into whether some of the people seen in surveillance images on the bus in the Bronx may have taken a different bus, this one from an MTA depot in Brooklyn, about eight hours before the second one was taken. Surveillance footage captured the two of the three people sought in that case in the front of the bus, which was also eventually recovered undamaged.
