NEW YORK (WPIX)—
French tourists visiting New York got the scare of their lives Tuesday, shortly after their plane landed at John F. Kennedy Airport.According to police, the unsuspecting tourists boarded an unlicensed airport van that sped off when a Port Authority officer spotted the illegal vehicle and attempted to grab the keys from the driver.
Police say the seven-mile pursuit stretched through two boroughs, starting in Jamaica, Queens and ending in East New York, Brooklyn with one officer describing it as "the ride from hell."
"My mother was trapped with a buckle, and thought she could jump but she fell and the car ran over her arm," Ethy Mamane told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. Her mother, Claudine, suffered an injury to her arm after her attempted escape.
The tourists praised police, who eventually caught up with the van as it weaved through residential streets. After crashing into a gate at a US Postal Service facility in East New York, the suspects jumped out of the moving van leaving the tourists to fend for themselves.
Police arrested the two men. No other injuries were reported.
"We never lost face," said Mamane. "At no time did we think it was going to end bad for us."
A Port Authority source identified the driver as 27-year-old Khaalis Preacher and his accomplice who steered the passengers into the van as 57-year-old Ian McFarland.
