Port Authority cops cracking down on a small-time “broken windows”-type crime have taken a dangerous thug off the street, officials said.
The officers chased down a man who stole a single soft drink from a newsstand at the Port Authority Bus Terminal Thursday morning and discovered he had a loaded .45-caliber gun and a knife with a pistol handle on him, according to Port Authority police.
Convicted felon Vincent Pierce, 37, took the soda from a Hudson News stand at around 11 a.m. When the owner triggered an alarm, two plainclothes PA cops officers nabbed Pierce.
As the cops searched him, they discovered the loaded firearm and the knife, police said.
“The fact that this guy was armed with a loaded pistol and was willing to steal a $1 soda, you have no way of knowing what his next move is,” a law-enforcement source said.
“Especially in a busy place like the Port Authority bus station . . . It could have been disastrous.”
Pierce was charged with resisting arrest, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and petit larceny, cops said.
His record includes assault with a weapon, menacing with a weapon, harassment with physical contact, and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said.