Good Samaritan foils iPhone theft in Midtown

MIDTOWN (WABC) -- Having something stolen from you is an unsettling feeling, but having one of your possessions physically ripped from your hands, in the middle of Midtown, during rush hour, well, you'd hope someone would come to your aid.

When Bonnie Somerstein left work at the St. Giles Hotel she never suspected a saga was about to unfold starring her, a bad guy on bicycle, and several good guys from Midtown, and her brand new iPhone.

"Not a normal day. Not at all," Somerstein said.

Somerstein reached Lexington and 42nd Street and started texting, when suddenly; a man on a bicycle grabbed the phone out of her hands and rode off.

"Next thing I know, I'm running down the street screaming at the top of my lungs: "Help! Help! He stole my phone somebody stop him,'" Somerstein said.

"I didn't know what he did, but I knew it was something that wasn't good," said Michael Solomon, a Good Samaritan.

That's when Michael Solomon took action as the cyclist sped by.

"I just pushed him, and he went flying into a planter exactly like that, and flipped over and then people jumped in and held him down," Solomon said.

"Five or six people came out of nowhere, holding him. One guy offered me M&M's, he was like: 'You're trembling, have some M&M's.' I was really touched," Somerstein said.

You can see the skid marks where Michael Solomon and the others foiled the thief's plans.

Bonnie Somerstein is amazed they could and thankful they did.

"I was so eternally grateful," Somerstein said.

"New York's a very good place," Solomon said.

"Don't let anyone tell you different!" Somerstein said.

IPhone thefts are a growing problem.

Somerstein hopes that what happened to her will be a lesson to would-be phone thieves.

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new york city, midtown, iphone, theft, new york news, jamie roth

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