The NYPD has suspended the highway patrolman whose idling vehicle was stolen yesterday morning while he sat in a Bronx diner. Officer Nelson Robles stepped into the breakfast joint at 7 am, and just two minutes later his car went screeching from the lot, with Anibal Lugo—a batty local—behind the wheel. Both men now face the consequences of their brainless acts.
Robles, a 42-year-old man who’s been with the force since 1995, has been suspended without pay for making his car (which contained a loaded firearm) an easy target for a crook like Lugo, reported the Daily News. The thief was found at La Guardia airport carrying handcuffs and other goodies from the patrol car—which he was actually handling with rubber gloves, good thinking. Following a string of arrests for small crimes dating back to 1990, he was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and impersonation of a police officer. By all accounts he’s a few cards short of a deck.
