A bizarre car chase almost hard to believe — except the whole thing was caught on camera — culminated in an armed robbery on the Upper East Side that earned thieves a hefty payday Saturday afternoon.
The chaos shocked bystanders near East 92nd Street and 2nd Avenue around 5 p.m. when a black Mercedes-Benz came charging down the road after the driver of a silver Toyota Rav-4, police said.
Witness video shows the Mercedes catch up to the Toyota, crashing into the car and causing it to spin out. The Mercedes driver then steps on the gas and pushes the other car up onto the sidewalk.
The Toyota driver is able to accelerate and get back onto the roadway, but is chased down a second time by the Mercedes driver who rams into the car, sending it spinning out once again, the video shows.
Apparently having successfully pinned the Toyota, the video shows a passenger jump out of the passenger side of the Mercedes. A bystander can be heard in the video yelling, "he's got a gun, he's got a gun."
This is when police say the armed assailant runs over to the Toyota and steals $20,000, before jumping back inside the Mercedes and driving off.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
NYPD officials said the armed robbers ditched their ride a handful of blocks away. There were no reports of any injuries.
