The Guardian Angels tackled a man they claimed to be a migrant shoplifter during a live TV interview from Times Square about the crisis — but cops say he was just a pest trying to disrupt filming.
Group founder Curtis Sliwa was talking to Fox News late Tuesday about migrant crime in the city when members of his red-clad cohort suddenly moved off.
“In fact, our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys right here on the corner of 42nd and 7th while all this is taking place,” Sliwa told host Sean Hannity, pointing off-camera ahead of him.
“They’ve taken over!” he said, getting the camera to pan around to show Guardian Angels surrounding a bespectacled man in a dark hooded jacket.
During a scuffle, Sliwa’s volunteers tackled him to the ground, with one seemingly putting him in a chokehold.
“He had been shoplifting,” Sliwa later told Hannity about the fracas, without explaining how he or his group members knew.
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