Two men wearing ski masks held up sisters visiting from California at gunpoint on Sunday night around 9:45 p.m. on West Drive near the Great Hill around 106th street, police told the Daily News. The robbers appeared to be teenagers, according to police.
“Police said the suspects walked up to the sisters, who were sitting on a bench and smoking cigarettes. The men asked for the time, but the sisters felt uneasy so they got up and left, walking down a nearby path.
A few minutes later, the suspects, now wearing ski masks, confronted them, police said. One had a black handgun.
The men demanded their property, then fled with two cell phones, a debit card, a credit card and a wallet.”
Stock police tape photo by vpickering.
I’m sorry for the sisters’ trauma, and they are the victims here. But get some common sense! Don’t go into a deserted area at night and then, if you feel uneasy with strangers, go where it’s populated.
I totally agree. They certainly are the victims but you definitely have to have common sense about what you are doing in this city. I grew up on the Upper West Side and know how to avoid certain situations or at least reduce the chances of something happening. I felt the same way about the woman who was raped by a guy in CP @ 100’s and 5th ave. They are all victims and they are horrendous acts but gotta have streets smart. ( BTW I was reprimanded in comments regarding the rape victim)
Agree totally!
Two people sitting on a bench in a non-touristy area of the park at 0945 p.m. and smoking (something) are basically saying:
1) We want to be your victim!;
2) We’re undercover cops in a sting op;
3) We’re wanna-be journalists hoping to do a ‘We Got Mugged in New York City’ piece for some online thing…maybe with Instagram pics included;
4) We live in a small town in some fly-over state and we’re hoping to make our local newspaper’s front page; or
5) We’re space aliens who just dropped in to your planet…nice place ya got here…but everything’s so expensive!
🙂
Where in California? If it was SF, people are used to being in Golden Gate Park at night. A load of homeless people live in tents there!
Vague kind of piece. As usual! Do these ‘reporters’ go to school? or can anyone get a job writing this stuff?!
Are we back to the days where its the victims fault (“what were you thinking? ) again?
it was 9:30 at night. Should they have been a little more street smart? sure.
But really blaming victims of crime is something i do not miss about the old New York, that so many of you yearn for.
I can only hope that the shackles put on the police by the new administration and the current city council do not destroy all the positive gains we have enjoyed for the past 20 years.
Tourists think that NYC is Disney World and that Central Park is the Magic Kingdom. Being in that part of Central Park well after dark is just plain dumb or at the very least naïve. People have got to use more common sense.
Really, people? Ridiculing the victims instead of being outraged that that tourists can’t enjoy themselves in Central Park – OUR PARK – without being robbed? Who cares what time it was?
I am SOOO NOT BLAMING the victim. We all just should use a little more common sense. Yes, IN A PERFECT WORLD we should be able to walk around in Central Park at any time at night, be it 9:30 or 4:30 in the am. But we know it’s not smart or safe. That DOESN’T WARRANT what has happened to the victims by any means. It just means one should take precautions to reduce the chance that THIS HORRIFIC act doesn’t happen.
Yes, you are.
You are essentially saying that it is the fault of the two women who were mugged (and the woman who was raped)that this happened because they were out of their house at what you believe to be an innapropriate time.
Unfortunately, because NYC is toted as one of the safest cities tourist often failed to exercise the “common sense” strategies of New Yorkers.
Most New Yorkers (whether natives or transplants) know it is wise to avoid dark, deserted places at night.
Sorry this happened to these folks.
You are not supposed to smoke in the park.
Once again Upper West Siders are outraged that two women had the nerve to be outside at night sitting on a bench, instead of being outraged that two criminals committed a crime.
Stay classy UWS.
You guys are SOOOOOO missing the point! OF COURSE THE CRIMINALS ARE TO BLAME!!! I’m just saying one has to take precautions when they think hanging out in the park so late is safe.