There are a billion selfies showing people doing just about everything on a daily basis, but one Brooklyn man might be in a class all his own for taking a selfie with the man who allegedly stole his wallet.
An East New York man who calls himself Cee Da-Prophet on Facebook was riding an uptown B train on Friday when, unbeknownst to him, his wallet fell out of his pocket. Moments later, he saw a man pick something up near him before running off the train just before the doors closed.
Cee told the New York Daily News that he checked his pockets and learned that his wallet was missing. He exited the train at the next stop, 59th Street-Columbus Circle, and got on a southbound B train, where he spied the alleged thief still on the platform at 7th Avenue where he had gotten off.
He said the suspect ran off, but not before tossing Cee’s debit card in a garbage can. After retrieving it, Cee went up to the street, where he again spotted the would-be thief outside the subway station entrance.
“I pulled him to the side and said, ‘Yo, man, you got my wallet,’” Cee told the Daily News.
Witnesses called police, and while waiting for them to arrive, Cee out his cellphone and began taking a video of himself with the suspect. (Warning: Explicit language follows.)
“You see that face? That looks like a man who steals wallets, right?” Cee asks the camera. “Where you going? Empty your pockets, and I’ll let you go,” he said when the tried to wiggle out of Cee’s iron grip.
Cee took two more videos in the 10 minutes it took for police to arrive, but he told the Daily News that the suspect gave him back his wallet after he shot the first one. (Warning: Explicit language follows.)
The three videos combined received more than 1.6 million views.
Police identified the man as Hagie Mangara, a 31-year-old Bronx resident who told Cee in one of the videos he was from Africa.
Mangara was charged with criminal possession of stolen property and released on Saturday. According to police, he had 28 previous arrests that mostly consisted of turnstile jumping. This was his first offense since 2013.
