Photo: iStock
July 26, 2010 By Christian Murray
A Sunnyside resident had her cell phone taken Thursday night when three teenagers working in concert grabbed it while she was walking down 43rd Street near Thomas Noonan Playground.
The woman said the three teenagers struck at about 10 pm Thursday, while she was walking north on 43rd Street, as she approached Greenpoint Avenue. The main perpetrator snuck up behind her and snatched her phone while she was sending a text; meanwhile, the two other teenagers were a little farther away and pretended to chase after the alleged thief, but ended up joining up with him later. The woman was unharmed.
This type of crime– where cell phones are quickly snatched– has been quite common throughout the Sunnyside/Woodside area in recent times. Detective Juan Toro, at various Police Precinct 108 meetings, has warned residents to be vigilant when it comes to this type of crime – especially women at bus stops and on buses.
In this case, the perpetrators were believed to have run toward the Thomas P. Noonan park. The police combed over the area—without success. The officer told the victim that she was unlikely to see the phone again.
The woman did not file a police report, arguing that she was unhurt and that her phone was gone.
3 Comments
Two guys tried to rob my son of his cell phone as he was walking home from the gym a couple of weeks ago on 44th Street and Barnett Avenue. I do believe this should be reported but the police do not want to keep these statistics.
a report needs to be filed for anything such as this that classifies as an actual crime. otherwise the stats won’t reflect what is actually happening in the area, which is way underserved by police as it is. it has been NYPD policy to discourage reports (dont know if that was case here) so its important residents insist on filing reports.
I hope they catch the dirtbags. I see a lot of people outside on their cell phones and not paying attention to who is around them. Be careful.