The NYPD tracked down a pair of Bronx car thieves thanks to an Apple AirTag before a wild caught-on-camera crash straight out of “The Fast and the Furious” that left one officer injured and several cars damaged, according to authorities.
Suspects Bria Aponte, 30, and Kenneth Canty, 33, of Barnes Avenue in the Bronx — who both have prior rap sheets — hopped in unsuspecting Ahsan Choudary’s 2013 Ford Escape around noon on Friday after he left the keys in it to run into a grocery store near the corner of Neill and Lurting avenues, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said in the criminal complaint.
But the car had vanished when he returned — so Choudary walked up to a nearby police cruiser, reported the theft and told the cop there was an AirTag hidden inside his car — setting off the dramatic high-speed chase reminiscent of a high-octane movie scene.
Authorities followed the device’s pinging until it reached the southeast corner of White Plains Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx — where cops spotted the duo driving along.
The officer hit the lights and tried to stop them, but Aponte allegedly floored it — even driving the wrong way down a one-way street in a futile attempt to evade police.
Aponte slammed into three different cars — a white Ford pickup, a white BMW and a Honda — then drove up onto a sidewalk, where she smashed head-on into two marked police cruisers, the complaint said.
It wasn’t the duos first run-in with the law either.
Aponte was arrested in December 2023 and re-arrested this April on burglary charges, while Canty was handcuffed in July for criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, online court records show.
Both were due back in court next month.
The climatic end of Friday’s encounter was caught on video, which is when Aponte and Canty got hung up near a Bank of America, cops said.
Several officers ran after the SUV as it tried to swerve across traffic during a chaotic scene punctuated by a wail of police sirens and cops slamming batons on the stolen car’s windows to smash the glass, a video posted to social media by NYC Scoop showed.
“Put your hands up! On the ground!” one officer screamed, his gun drawn after the Ford finally crawled to a halt.
On the other side, cops shouted “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!” at Canty, who they grabbed, threw to the ground and cuffed as the wrecked car smoked beside him, the video shows.
One patrolman, Andre Gonzalez of the 49th Precinct, tried to open the passenger door and wrestle Canty out of the car — but Canty slammed it closed on the cop’s hand as his alleged accomplice hit the gas again, the DA said.
Gonzalez was later treated at a hospital in the Bronx for his injuries.
The pair also almost hit another cop, Stacey Pena, the DA said.
Police slapped both suspects with a litany of charges, including assault on a police officer, assault, grand larceny, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident, authorities said.
Aponte has pleaded not guilty, but her $300,000 bail has left the driver stranded on Rikers Island, according to online court records. She’s set to appear in court on Nov. 27.
Canty also pleaded not guilty, and was released on his own recognizance. His next court date is Jan. 13.
