Off-duty NYPD cop hijacked by two armed crooks, then arrested in Harlem

Two crooks armed with two pistols, including an automatic, were tracked down and arrested after hijacking the car of an off-duty police officer in Harlem, police sources said Saturday.

The NYPD officer was about to get into his white BMW around 11:30 p.m. Friday at W. 146 St. and Bradhurst Ave. when two men, aged 20 and 21, approached him with weapons drawn, police sources said. The crooks demanded the cop's keys and he forked out for them.

The two men then jumped into the officer's car and drove off northbound on Bradhurst Ave., police sources said.

Responding officers followed an iPad in the officer's car to Broadway and W. 138th St., the sources said, where they found the car abandoned, with the attackers already in the wind.

Air units, however, helped police find the two men, who were arrested nearby, police said.

One of the crooks had a modified weapon equipped with an automatic firing device, police said.

Jomar Crespo, 21, was charged with grand larceny, auto theft, criminal possession of a machine gun, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, criminal possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of a ammunition feeding device.

Jose Rivera, 20, was hit with the same charges, plus additional charges of manufacturing a rapid-fire modification and manufacturing a dangerous instrument.

The two men share an address in Waterbury, Connecticut, police said.

Their arraignments in Manhattan Criminal Court were pending Saturday evening.

With Rocco Parascandola