'Friends' star David Schwimmer resembles UK thief
'Friends' star David Schwimmer resembles a suspected UK thief
"Friends" star David Schwimmer has told how cops were "a little disappointed" when they ruled him out as a suspect in a theft in Blackpool.
The actor hit the headlines when fans pointed out how he was the spitting image of a suspect captured on CCTV leaving a restaurant carrying what appeared to be a carton of cans.
Schwimmer, 52, responded by posting a video to his Twitter account that showed him scurrying through a convenience store carrying a carton of beer before looking up furtively at a CCTV camera.
He captioned the video: "Officers, I swear it wasn't me. As you can see, I was in New York.
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"To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation."
He added the hashtag #itwasntme to the post.
It led to Lancashire Police officially ruling out the actor as a suspect.
They said: “Police thank you to everyone for your speedy responses.
“We have investigated this matter thoroughly and have confirmed that David Schwimmer was in America on this date!”
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Discussing that on Channel 4's "The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan," he said: "I got a message from a buddy of mine saying 'Have you seen this from Blackpool Police?
"The police had posted something that was really funny. They were a little disappointed that they had ruled me out as a suspect; it wasn't me.
"They said something kind of cheeky and I thought 'Good on them for having a sense of humor', but I couldn't resist responding.
"So I went that day when I found out with a buddy of mine and we went to my local shop, this little market around the corner from where I live in the East Village.
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"I know the manager there so I showed him what was going on and said 'Hey, can I just shoot something?'. Just to let them know I was definitely involved."
However, Schwimmer admitted he had his own history with a petty crime when he stole a chocolate bar when he was a child.
He said: "When I was a kid, the harshest lesson I learned was when I stole a Snickers bar and I think I was like nine.
"It was a store where they knew everyone, it was that kind of neighborhood, and they knew my parents and knew my sister, but I just really wanted this Snickers bar.
"And it was after baseball practice and I didn't have any allowance or anything on me so I just snuck it.
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"I got out the door and the owner of the store was like, 'David?' Of course, he knows me! 'Come here'.
"And I almost just lost it, cause I knew. You know when you're busted. He said 'Do you want me to tell your parents?' and that was the worst!
"It was bad. I was mortified...but it didn't stop me from stealing."
Schwimmer's "lookalike" has since appeared in court charged with a string of fraud and theft offenses.
In February, Abdulah Husseini made a brief appearance via a video link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs to deny the charges.
"Friends" ran for ten years from 1994 to 2004 and also starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry.
Married dad-of-one Schwimmer, born and based in New York, starred in "Friends" from 1994 until its finale in 2004.
In 2016, he won acclaim by starring as lawyer Robert Kardashian in "American Crime Story," about the trial of OJ Simpson.
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