Man wearing fake bulletproof vest arrested on Lower East Side accused of threatening a New York pedestrian
It wouldn’t have stopped a bullet, but it helped get the police to stop him.
A man wearing fake armor was arrested in lower Manhattan on Friday after what a witness described as a road rage incident on Norfolk St. near Rivington St. on the Lower East Side.
Brooklyn resident John Hayer, 26, was driving a green Land Rover northbound in Norfolk when he got into an argument with a pedestrian who complained about loud music being played, police said.
“He stopped too close to the guy he was crossing,” said a worker at a nearby apartment building, who wished to remain anonymous.
The driver of the Land Rover rolled down his window, the construction worker said. “The guy (pedestrian) said he (Hayer) pointed a gun at him and said, ‘Keep walking!’” the worker said.
The pedestrian called 911, the worker said. “I was in shock,” the witness said. “Who expects someone to point a gun at him when he’s crossing the street?”
The daily news flash
Week days
Catch up on the top five stories of the day every weekday afternoon.
Hayer drove away and parked the Land Rover a few blocks away, on Stanton St., near Orchard St., police said.
Officers began searching for Hayer, who said a 911 caller described him as armed and wearing a bulletproof vest.
When the cops found the Land Rover parked on Orchard St., they waited there for Hayer to return.
At about 1:10 p.m., Hayer returned to the car and NYPD officers arrested him on a charge of making threats, police said.
Hayer did not have a weapon and the fake bulletproof vest was likely something of a fashion statement, police said.
Hayer has a record of three prior arrests, a police source said. Her most recent arrest, in February, was in Brooklyn on strangulation charges, the source and public records said.
with emma seiwell