Mob surrounds TLC inspectors just outside Fordham Manor

They were just doing their job during a routine car stop last week, but two TLC inspectors apparently were lucky to escape injury after police said they were surrounded by a small mob.

The two inspectors from the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission had just finished a stop in front of 2690 University Ave., just after 6 p.m., on Jan. 24, when police said three men surrounded them. 

The unidentified inspectors — 31 and 37 — were able to escape to their car, but not before it too was surrounded, preventing them from being able to leave, police said. While they tried to get away, someone smashed the vehicle's rear window with what cops called a "blunt object."

Not long after, the TLC inspectors were able to drive away.

All three men were said to be Hispanic, one last seen wearing a black baseball cap, light-colored jacket and light-colored pants. A second was only seen wearing a dark-colored coat. The third a dark-colored ski cap, a dark-colored jacket, a light-colored shirt and light-colored pants.

Anyone with any information about the alleged criminal mischief or those police are seeking in connection with it, can call the New York Police Department's Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 577-8477, or in Spanish at (888) 577-4782.

Tips also can be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com, or by texting tips to 274637, then entering "TIP577."

All calls, police said, are confidential.

The TLC, according to its website, licenses and regulates more than 50,000 vehicles and approximately 100,000 drivers. The agency is responsible for inspecting all TLC-licensed vehicles once every other year.