Upper East Side

2 Arrested for Manhattan Car Chase Crash, Armed Cash Grab Caught on Camera

There were no injuries reported by police

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Police announced two arrests in the early September bizarre car chase turned armed robbery that was almost hard to believe, expect the whole thing was caught on camera.

The Upper East Side brazen chase earned the pair of thieves a hefty payday Sept. 3, when they speed after and spun out a car to steal and get away with a $9,000 haul (police previously said the theft was for $20,000).

Authorities apprehended Christian Santana, 32, and Denis Piters, 29, on Sept. 21 and 29, respectively. Each faces charges of robbery and reckless endangerment; attorney information was not known.

The chaos shocked bystanders near East 92nd Street and 2nd Avenue around 5 p.m. when a black Mercedes-Benz came charging down the road after the driver of a silver Toyota Rav-4, police said.

Witness video shows the Mercedes catch up to the Toyota, crashing into the car and causing it to spin out. The Mercedes driver then steps on the gas and pushes the other car up onto the sidewalk.

The Toyota driver is able to accelerate and get back onto the roadway, but is chased down a second time by the Mercedes driver who rams into the car, sending it spinning out once again, the video shows.

Apparently having successfully pinned the Toyota, the video shows a passenger jump out of the passenger side of the Mercedes. A bystander can be heard in the video yelling, "he's got a gun, he's got a gun."

This is when police say the armed assailant ran over to the Toyota and stole thousands in cash, before jumping back inside the Mercedes and driving off.

NYPD officials said the armed robbers ditched their ride a handful of blocks away.

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