By Julie Shapiro and Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — While initial reports credited police for discovering the Nissan Pathfinder packed with explosives in Times Square Saturday, it was street vendors who first heard the crackling and saw the smoke.
But just which street vendor should earn the hero's crown remains a mystery.
First the New York Times credited Lance Orton for alerting mounted police officer Wayne Rhatigan about 6:30 p.m. to the Pathfinder, which had begun filling with smoke. Then, they added another street vendor Duane Jackson — a Vietnam War veterans — to the hero vendor list.
But The Times of London says another man, Aliou Niasse, in fact deserves the praise.
The paper says that Niasse, who sells framed photos of the city just beside where the Pathfinder parked, first saw the car smoking.
“I thought I should call 911," he said, "but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” Niasse, who is originally from Senegal, told the paper.
But Orton and Jackson told reporters Sunday that they were used to alerting police to petty criminals, including pickpockets, on the busy street corner where they sell cheap purses and $2.99 “I Love NY” T-shirts.
“There are a bunch of us disabled vets selling here, and we’re used to being vigilant because we all know that freedom isn’t free,” Jackson told the New York Times.
“All of us vets here are the eyes and ears for the cops,” he reportedly said. “Whether it’s three-card monte games or thieves, we know the cops here by first name — we have their cell numbers.”
President Barack Obama seemed to cast his lot with Jackson, calling the vendor on Monday to thank him for his quick thinking, the Associated Press reported.
Mayor Bloomberg praised Orton along with mounted policeman Wayne Rhatigan, Reuters said.
"Lance Orton saw something and did something about it," the mayor reportedly said.
But in his Bronx apartment Sunday night, the camera-shy Orton told the Daily News that he doesn’t think of himself as a hero.
"I'm not a celebrity, I'm just an average Joe," he reportedly said. "It's nice, but I'm not a glory hound."
Still, Orton, wearing a white fedora and walking with a cane, left Times Square Sunday evening to a round of applause from employees from Junior’s restaurant, the Times said.
“See something, say something,” he told reporters before climbing into a cab.
