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Shocker! Man Arrested for Stealing Defibrillator from 23rd St PATH Station

By Julie Shapiro | January 17, 2014 4:42pm
 Michael Howard, 20, was arrested for grabbing a defibrillator from a PATH station Jan. 16, 2014, the PAPD said.
Michael Howard, 20, was arrested for grabbing a defibrillator from a PATH station Jan. 16, 2014, the PAPD said.
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Shutterstock/Dario Lo Presti

MANHATTAN — Talk about a cardiac arrest.

A thief swiped a defibrillator from the 23rd Street PATH station on Thursday, but he was quickly caught nearby after the heart-stopping heist, a spokesman for the Port Authority Police Department said.

Michael Howard, 20, of Newark, N.J., boosted the defibrillator from the north side of the station at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue about 1 p.m. — the second time he allegedly stole one of the medical devices in as many months, said Port Authority spokesman, Joseph Pentangelo.

Port Authority Police officers on the beat who were alerted to the theft found Howard carrying the stolen defibrillator shortly afterward on a train at the 33rd Street PATH station, Pentangelo said. Howard struggled with the officers as they arrested him, Pentangelo said.

Howard was charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

Defibrillators, devices that send a shock to a patient's heart to restart it in a medical emergency, are required to be kept in schools, gyms and other public places in New York

Howard was previously arrested in December for stealing a defibrillator from the Newark PATH station, Pentangelo said.

Information about Howard's lawyer was not immediately available.