EAST NEW YORK (WPIX) - French tourists visiting New York got the scare of their lives Tuesday, shortly after their plane landed at John F. Kennedy Airport.

According to police, the unsuspecting tourists boarded an unlicensed airport van that sped off when a Port Authority officer spotted the illegal vehicle and attempted to grab the keys from the driver..

"We screamed and prayed. It was a miracle we survived," Esther-Ethy Mamane of Paris told The New York Post. Police say the seven-mile pursuit stretched through two boroughs, starting in Jamaica, Queens and ending in East New York, Brooklyn with one officer describing it as "the ride from hell."

The tourists praised police, who eventually caught up with the van as it weaved through residential streets. After crashing into a gate at a US Postal Service facility in East New York, the suspects jumped out of the moving van leaving the tourists to fend for themselves. Police arrested the two men and only one tourist suffered an arm injury. The others were not hurt.
http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-van-fr...,7134413.story