Cops busted a drugstore cowboy this week by tracking him from high in the sky, dramatic video obtained by The Post shows.
The burglar, who was wearing a surgical mask and a dark sweatshirt, broke into Neergard Pharmacy at 120 7th Ave. in Park Slope, Brooklyn, at around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and stole about $2,200 in cash and about a hundred pills.
Cops responded to a 911 call about the burglary in progress but when they arrived they found that the pill fiend had already fled, police sources said.
Little did he know an NYPD helicopter was hovering overhead.
Police officers arrest alleged burglar Ralph Wilson on Wednesday in Queens. NYPD
The NYPD called in its Aviation Unit and detectives used a description of the suspect to find him using a helicopter’s cameras.
Wilson allegedly broke into a drug store at 65th Avenue and 110th Street, stealing cash and pills before detectives tracked him from a helicopter. NYPD
Police who arrived at Neergard Pharmacy found that the burglar had already absconded with the pills and cash. NYPD
The chopper hovers above the culprit as additional police officers close in on him below at 65th Avenue and 110th Street in Queens — about 13 miles away from the store, the video shows.
The masked man, identified by cops as Ralph Wilson, can be seen on police body camera putting up his hands and surrendering to cops, who cuffed him.
Wilson, 28, who has nine prior arrests, allegedly stole oxycodone, codeine and Xanax along with the cash that was in the register, police sources said.
He was previously arrested for five burglaries going back to 2015, the sources said. He was also charged in 2017 with a felony assault on Rikers Island that happened the prior year, the sources said.
Police responded to the Park Slope drug store after receiving a 911 call about a heist but the culprit was gone. NYPD
For the most recent caper, he was charged with burglary and possession of a controlled substance, cops said.
Burglary is down 16% to 60 so far this year from 71 during the same period last year in Brooklyn’s 78 Precinct, where the drug store is located, according to NYPD data. The crime is down 15% citywide to 6,589 from 7,760 at this point in 2025.
