Heckscher Playground. Photo by gigi_nyc.
Police have arrested two teenagers in connection with an assault and robbery on May 9 in Central Park, and arrested a woman they say attempted to abduct a toddler in a playground. Both of those crimes occurred in Heckscher Playground around 63rd street inside the park.
A 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were arrested and charged with robbery, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. The girl was also charged with assault. Police said they were with more than a dozen other people when they approached a 20-year-old man and 17-year-old girl in the playground, according to NBC.
“One of the teens, a girl, got into an argument with the 17-year-old victim, threatened her with a stun gun and then punched her in the face, police said. Then a male suspect grabbed the girl’s purse and took her phone.”
In the attempted abduction on May 12, a woman allegedly tried to carry a two-year-old out of the playground before the child’s nanny stopped her. She was arrested this week after another parent noticed her acting suspiciously in the park, the Daily News reported.
“Cecile Jackson was arrested in the park Tuesday after two parents alerted cops that she was “beckoning their child toward her” about 3:30 p.m., a police source said.
The officers thought Jackson looked similar to a woman wanted for trying to snatch a 2-year-old boy from a swing in the Heckscher playground on May 12, and took her into custody.
Jackson admitted to the prior case and was charged with attempted kidnapping in the second degree, the sources said.”
Another robbery was reported early Wednesday, the News reported.
The 68-year-old victim was walking along a wooded path near The Ramble section of the park when the crook confronted him and stole his watch shortly before 1 a.m., authorities said.
The thief walked up to the man, grabbed him and demanded, “Do you have anything of value? Give me your watch.”
Oh, thank God!
And they need a security guard/park ranger/ *somebody* by Hecksher. It’s just so big.
And less cops in cars. I feel like they should be on foot.
I am very grateful for the ones I do see. My husband and I were able to alert son (4 years ago) when we saw someone get slugged and fall to the ground in the area, just past dusk.
It was very scary!
I think of him often, and am glad there were officers on foot to tell.
What a crazy maniac that kidnapping woman is. I’m actually glad she tried again, just because she was finally caught because of it.
It’s come to the point where a senior citizen can’t even walk alone around an isolated part of Central Park after midnight without risk! Way to go, de Blasio!
Caught ya being a political fool! Bashing de Blasio instead of 68 year old genius who walks the brambles at 1am is based on what? Oh I can hear the logic flying out of your brain. LOL Leave it at the sidewalk this is our neighborhood rag where commentary is welcome but readers (I for one) don’t suffer fools lightly. Wise up and grow up.
Do you know what sarcasm is??
*sigh*… I moved to NYC from CA because I thought the ppl here would be more intelligent.
Hey parkSMART: sar·casm : särˌkazəm/
: noun
: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
How obvious does he have to be?
Lol. Thanks, Dirk. Sadly, I guess I sounded all too similar to the people who freak out about every police blotter item to push their political agenda.
Correct Jeff. How about adding a winking smiley face next time. It’s all in the presentation 😉
Subtlety not your forte. :-0
Sarcasm not your best genre 🙁
Why are you pinning the fault on deBlasio? HE didn’t do the mugging! We all know that you are supposed to avoid going to certain places, like deserted park paths, after dark. The other readers’ comments reflect this. But you are probably the kind of person who needs to blame someone . . . de Blasio, Obama, the Grinch . . .
Jane, your sarcasm detectors are malfunctioning.
Why was the guy in the rambles at 1 AM ??? People have to think smart and avoid treacherous situations…like being in the rambles at 1 am……..
68 is young!
I wonder what all of these criminals have in common.
It’s been two days now and not even a nibble…
Congrats Melissa, you sound like a lovely person…
Soon the usual suspects will be blaming this so-called “crime wave” for us losing the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks to the East Side again, but everyone knows that the park is closed after sunset for a good reason. Anyone who is surprised that they got mugged while hanging out in The Ramble at 1AM either can’t tell time or needs to find their way back to the senior citizen’s home ASAP.
Central Park is open until 1am posted on all signs. Personally I’d like to rally to get all the parks to close at 10pm because I think people are not really discouraged strongly or effectively enough to stay out of the park after sundown. Discuss among yourselves.
I hope that the perpetrators are punished to the full extent of the law if found guilty.
They should also lose any welfare benefits that they might be receiving. If they were out there busting arse trying to make a living, they would be too busy and too tired to be preying on innocent people.
you apparently don’t know very much about TANF benefits. the “T” is quite temporary and the benefits are minuscule.
ok, so if a child is convicted of a violent crime, say robbery, you want the mother’s TANF benefits taken away. very nice. even if she has other children.
so what other public benefits does this apply to? if you’re on unemployment and your child gets in trouble, should you lose that? what if you work for NY City, or NY State? should you lose your job? maybe for three months?
what about wealthy people? should they lose the mortgage interest deduction? if they’re private equity guys, should they lose the carried interest tax credit? maybe for 6 months?
what about if they’re private equity guys investing public funds? should the public pension funds be withdrawn from their portfolio? or, hell, why should they maintain their big shot jobs at JP Morgan Chase or Goldman Sachs when they kid gets in trouble?
or maybe for you, this sort of vindictiveness and assumed guilt only applies to the poorest of the poor. If you’re rich and your kid screws up, just switch him from one boarding school to another.
that was addressed to Scott…
I’d like to ask Scott if he knows the definition of the term “collective punishment”.
Ok now I’m really laughing my head off LMHO…
Using tragic crime stories as a basis for your anti-welfare rant seems idiotic.
Hardly a “rant.” A rant would have to be at minimum 500 words. This was a concise and quite reasonable criticism of our no questions asked welfare system which rewards criminality.
which program are you referring to when you say “welfare”? what was usually called “Welfare”, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, sadly was ended under Bill Clinton.
these are under-age children. so if the mother receives any benefits for them, they should be cut off if convicted of a juvenile crime? what about more wealthy people whose children are convicted of juvenile crimes? should they lose the dependent tax deduction and other benefits?
AFDC was replaced with TANF, as you well know. The irony is that the “T” is never temporary, and Bill Clinton’s efforts to transition welfare families into meaningful employment is but a sad distant memory.
But yes, if your child is convicted of a brutal violent crime (not a property crime), I would suggest a cutoff of TANF. Say 3 months on the first go-round.
Now you’ll probably ask me what the definition of “is” is.
You liberals, always on and on about “facts”, “details”, “nuances” and “empathy”. What part of “Welfare Bad” do you not understand? Complex problems should be solved with short, declarative statements.
This is the why people think about leaving the city. This is also why city people become more conservative and want more police protection.
There has been a big change in crime in the last ten years.
I’m sorry that you are scared, but NYC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. And it’s the lowest it’s ever been since 1963.
https://gothamist.com/2015/01/01/nyc_murder_rate_drops_to_new_histor.php
Yes, crime IS down thanks to REPUBLICAN leadership and stop and frisk.
I LOVE stop and frisk. Frisk me all you want all day long.
rambles??? 1:00am..gee I wonder what the 68yo was up to?
Don’t be naive everyone. We all know why he was in the Ramble at 1am.
The only thing that’s changed about this scenario versus 10, 20 or 30 years ago, is that now he feels comfortable filing a complaint. God knows how many men looking for late-night love in the Ramble have been robbed over the years.
Lets see they stopped stop and frisk and crime is up 45% in the last year. Now the city council wants to stop low level as they call broken window crimes. Why stop anyone at all. Lets just let the criminals run rampant and if they get arrested let them sue the city and the police dept. OH! That’s what were doing now!!!!
where did you read that “crime is up 45% in the last year”? could you please cite your source?
they didn’t end “stop and frisk”. they ended RACIAL PROFILING stop and frisk. SAtop and frisk continues, only on a constitional basis.
please clarify that what you are complaining about is the end of racial profiling.
Have you seen the movie the Purge? Maybe this would be a good solution.