There’s something about laid-back Sterlington Station in Sloatsburg that seems to attract action.

Thursday afternoon, three men crashed a car on the NY Thruway and then made their way to Sterlington Station, looking for directions. It was their good fortune to be helped by Tim McAleese, who can be found most days working the deli counter and register — as McAleese just casually goes about his business and tries to help anyone who walks through the door.

“Two of them go over that way and one comes up to the counter and asks, ‘Is it illegal to leave your car at the scene of an accident’,” said McAleese, recounting the encounter. “I told them, ‘Yeah, it’s not a good idea. You can get in big trouble for that. Probably going to get hit with a big ticket and everything. You shouldn’t really do that.'”

McAleese said the guys, all in their late teens or early twenties, told him they ran to Sterlington from the Thruway.

“They were speeding on the freeway and a car cut them off as they were slowing down — and they swerved and hit a guard rail,” he said. “None of them had any permits or licenses, so they just ran.”

McAleese pointed them toward the Sloatsburg Train Station up the street and to the left.

“They seemed nice,” McAleese said, working the register and counter simultaneously. “They just were a little shocked. They just got into a car accident.”

The three guys’ good fortune ran out at the Sloatsburg Train Station, where a swarm of law enforcement officers raced up Municipal Plaza and arrested them.

Apparently the police had been in pursuit all along. The three were suspected of stealing the wrecked car back on the Thruway, reportedly a BMW, and had been eluding the Tuxedo and NY State Police.

A NY State Police officer said the short version of the story was that the guys stole a vehicle and were on their way to Mount Vernon, NY. “We’ve been chasing them for the last hour,” the officer said as he climbed into his SUV.

The police convoy included state police, as well as Tuxedo and Ramapo police, with a canine unit and unmarked SUV thrown in. Officers surrounded the three obviously dejected males, separating them. One sat cuffed and waiting on the metal station bench, while the other two were questioned in the small station enclosure. Then each suspect was walked, cuffed, to a waiting SUV.

And just like that, one after another, the police convoy disappeared into an increasingly sunny day.