New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman was swarmed by at least six police officers with guns drawn at a gas station in Connecticut on Friday after authorities mistook him for an armed car thief.
The incident took place at a gas station in Darien, where Cashman stopped to refuel his white Jeep Wrangler during his trip to Norwalk.
The origins of the scary ordeal could be traced back to last Sunday, when Cashman reported his vehicle stolen, according to the New York Post.
Cashman informed the Norwalk Police Department that his car was stolen.
New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman (above) was swarmed by police in Connecticut on Friday after pulling out of a gas station in Darien
The New York Police Department told Cashman on Tuesday that it found the car abandoned in the Bronx.
The car was then towed to a local auto shop where he could pick it up.
‘I retrieved it on Wednesday and I called Norwalk [police],’ he said.
‘They wanted to process it for evidence…I told them I can get them the car Friday.’
But the NYPD apparently failed to remove Cashman’s vehicle from the list of stolen cars.
The Yankees general manager drove from Yankee Stadium to Norwalk so that police there could process his car for evidence.
After stopping at the gas station in Darien, ‘that’s when apparently the circumstances radically changed,’ Cashman told the Post.
‘I had a welcoming committee descend upon me as I pulled out of that gas station.’
Cashman told the Post that police in Darien received a report of ‘someone in a white Jeep that was brandishing a gun in a local doctor’s office.’
Not only did police believe Cashman was armed. They also ran his license plates through the system.
‘[T]he NYPD never took me off the stolen car list,’ he said.
Cashman said that as many as five patrol cars surrounded him and that somewhere between six and nine officers had their guns drawn.
‘They executed a very tactful interception,’ Cashman said.
‘They’re clearly very professional and trained and they asked me to turn my car off, exit the vehicle, walk backwards towards them…they were executing their duty.’
As he got out of his Jeep, Cashman was told by the cops ‘not make any rash movements.’
‘They searched my car, asked for my ID,’ he said.
‘I explained what was going on.’
After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Darien police escorted Cashman and his Jeep to the Norwalk Police Department.
Cashman reported his white Jeep Wrangler (like the one seen in the above stock image) stolen earlier this week. After it was retrieved by the NYPD, the department failed to remove it from the stolen car list, Cashman said
Cashman said that the police escorted him so as to prevent another scenario where ‘I would be tripped up again’ since the car was still listed in the system as stolen.
The longtime Yankee executive told the Post that he ‘knew exactly what I was in for’ when the Darien police surrounded him.
Moments before he was accosted by police, Cashman received a telephone call from law enforcement in Westchester County.
Police there wanted to talk to Cashman about his stolen car, which apparently was detected as he made his way northbound from the Bronx.
‘They called my cell while I was driving and I tripped up something on my drive up,’ he said.
‘They asked me if I was driving my vehicle because they got a hit on my stolen car driving up the Hudson.’
Cashman said the entire ordeal was a misunderstanding that stemmed from bureaucratic oversight.
‘My vehicle should have been removed [from the stolen database] before being returned to me,’ he said.
‘Someone did not remove it from the stolen list…it’s a mistake, but at least nothing harmful came from that.’
A law enforcement source acknowledged to the Post that the NYPD should have informed police in Connecticut that the car was no longer stolen.
‘The alarm should’ve been removed before he received the car,’ the source said.
Cashman said he has no hard feelings toward the police.
‘The public should take encouragement when someone is in a stolen vehicle they’re not going to get very far,’ he said.
‘I have high respect for all law enforcement. They do an amazing job whether you’re in Connecticut and New York City – and sometimes unique circumstances can occur.’
When asked about his Jeep Wrangler, the general manager said: ‘I’ve been told it’s officially off the [stolen] list.’