A quick-thinking subway station cleaner nabbed a thieving thug at a Queens station.
Olando Upshur, 47, was on the stairs of the Forest Avenue station in Ridgewood when he heard a woman screaming after she was robbed on the M train by two teens at about 1:40 a.m. Monday.
Upshur turned around when he heard the shouts, and saw the duo running at him, as well as a hysterical woman chasing after them.
“I grabbed them, and they looked at me surprised,” said Upshur. “I asked them what they’re doing.”
One of them handed him a Samsung Galaxy cell phone. He grabbed it, realizing the teen had taken it from the woman, and the crook ran off.
Upshur wouldn’t let his accomplice flee.
“We were wrestling on the stairs, and the mezzanine, through the turnstile,” he said. “I got a good grasp on him by the door.”
A station agent called the police, and Upshur held the teen for the cops.
The NYPD called him throughout the night to thank him.
“I got a call from captains, commanders, a chief,” he said. “I was shocked that I was getting these calls. They said a lot of people wouldn’t do that.”
Upshur is a father of four who lives in Brooklyn, and he has worked as a station cleaner for 23 years.
NYPD transit boss Joseph Fox and the MTA’s Transit President Carmen Bianco praised Upshur.
“This was an incredibly brave decision by Mr. Upshur,” said Bianco.