Quantcast

Woman sucker punched, robbed on Upper West Side, police say

Screen Shot 2019-10-25 at 5.42.42 PM
Police say a teenager robbed a woman on the Upper West Side in concert with two men in their 20s.

The following are notable crimes from the 19th and 20th precincts.

20th precinct

Scaffold sucker punch

A woman was punched in the face by an 18-year-old while she walked underneath scaffolding set up at the future home of the Upper West Side’s tallest building last week, police said.

According to officers, the 57-year-old woman was passing by 200 Amsterdam Ave. around 9:30 p.m. when the attack happened.

After sucker-punching the woman, the 18-year-old perp tried to steal her victim’s purse but was unsuccessful and fled in an unknown direction.

Police later arrested Bronx resident Trinity Velez on Oct. 24 and charged her with robbery.

Officers are still investigating the attack and are currently looking for two other individuals — two men in their early 20s — for questioning.

 

Stolen bicycle

An Upper West Side woman had her red Schwinn mountain bike stolen from outside the Unitarian Universalist Church earlier this month, police said.

The 32-year-old woman locked the bike outside of the church, located at 160 Central Park West, at 11 a.m. on Oct. 13, and when she returned two hours later, she found that her bicycle lock had been cut and her bike nowhere to be found.

Stolen cash and cards

A woman had cash and cards stolen from her wallet while out shopping at Fairway Market last week, police said.

The 67-year-old Upper West Sider entered the grocery store located at Amsterdam Avenue and W. 74th Street around 4 p.m. on Oct. 19.

While shopping, she left her cart unattended for one minute and discovered that $400 in cash, a $300 Macy’s gift card, her driver’s license and with five credit cards were missing.

Stolen wallet

A tourist from Georgia had his wallet stolen while shopping at Tip Top Shoes at West 72nd Street and Verdi Square last week, police said.

The 65-year-old man placed his wallet on a store chair and briefly stepped away. When the Atlanta resident returned to pick up his wallet, it was gone, police said.

The store’s surveillance footage shows a roughly 55-year-old woman picking up the wallet and leaving the store shortly after the man placed it down.

The man canceled all the cards in the wallet, which luckily had no charges.

Amazon gift card scam

A 71-year-old Upper East Side woman was nearly scammed out of $1,500 last week, police say.

On Oct. 21, the woman received an e-mail from her supervisor asking her to buy 15 $100 Amazon gift cards that she would then need to distribute among her co-workers.

Once the woman returned to her apartment after purchasing the cards, she checked her e-mail and found a new message in her inbox from her boss — or so she thought.

In the e-mail, her boss asked her to scratch off the cards pin cover labels and to send the numbers to him via e-mail. Luckily, before the woman sent anything, the company’s IT department informed her that the company’s e-mail had been hacked and to disregard the request, according to police.

Restaurant burglary

A burglar stole $680 in cash from Au Jus restaurant, located at First Avenue and East 92nd Street, on Oct. 15.

When the manager of the roasted meats and Oklahoma barbecue spot stopped by the eatery at 9:10 a.m., he found the basement’s exhaust fan missing, the basement door open and the office ransacked with cash missing from a desk drawer. Police are still investigating the burglary.

Clean getaway

A man robbing a CVS located at Lexington Avenue and East 87th Street threatened an employee with pepper spray on Oct. 16.

Officers from the 19th precinct said that the man entered the drug store and started taking items off of shelves at 5:44 p.m.

A female store employee confronted the man as he tried to leave the store without paying the three bottles Johnson’s Baby Oil, four bottles of Olay Pump Body Wash, two bottles of Olay Ultra Body Wash and two bottles of  Olay Coconut Body Wash in his arms, police said.

But the 34-year-old employee backed off when the thief pointed a can of pepper spray at her before running out of the store. The items stolen were worth a combined $98, according to police.

Missing motorbike

An Upper East Side man had his motorbike stolen overnight about two weeks ago, police said.

The 29-year-old man told officers from the 19th precinct that he parked his white Yamaha 2017 Fz09 Motorcycle outside of 305 East 84th St. at 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 15. The next day, he went to check on his bike and found it missing. Police are still searching for the $7,200 vehicle.