Six teenage boys tried to rob a 77-year-old man in the same section of Central Park where a woman was mugged last week, the Daily News reported.
“The 77-year-old man was near W. 102nd St. and West Drive at about 9 p.m. Saturday when the group of teens told him to empty his pockets, sources said.
The victim told police one of the punks had a handgun, but he had nothing on him and the teens fled empty-handed, cops said.”
The victim was not injured and no arrests have been made.
It’ll be interesting to see how the apologists here on these boards flit their way through this story.
They’ll probably blame Donald Trump.
@Soft Doodie – “The comments on West Side Rag stories are a crucial part of what makes the site fun and useful. Our readers are always willing to offer an opinion, a joke, or some wisdom.
We definitely want to keep encouraging that kind of interaction. But we have received some complaints that the comments section has gotten a little too nasty. Other websites like ours have responded to this kind of thing by adding more stringent verification measures, blocking IP addressees, or banning comments altogether. That’s not something we want to do. Allowing anonymous comments helps bring more people into the conversation.
With that in mind, we wanted to offer a few reminders:
1. Feel free to challenge another commenter’s logic, but
–>do so without calling that person an idiot. This shouldn’t be too difficult.<–
Just think: “I am an adult screaming at an anonymous person on the Internet. Maybe I have better things to do.”
We’ll be moderating the comments and may delete ones that don’t adhere to basic community standards.”
Sounds like you think the mugging was an OK thing. The only one who needs to apologize (for stupidity and continuing antagonism) is you. Oh, btw, please stay OFF duty.
@ allie – HOW in the name of reason could you possibly think that I think this crime is “OK”?
What kind of world do you live in that would allow such a distorted observation?
Hey, if you disagree with me….it’s ok with me. I’m “down” with that, but you’re just being disagreeable, which is the first indicator of someone without an intelligent response.
That guy is a hero for standing up to the punks. And 77!
No apologist here!
Why are these kids all resorting to mugging and harassment? Where the hell are the parents?
Droves of teens wandering the streets should be considered immediately suspect – nothing I have seen yet proves otherwise.
For example, has there been a single news report of a pack of teens, at night, roving around taking care of the homeless? Cleaning up sidewalks? Helping the elderly crossing the street? NO!
I also don’t understand why there are no cops patrolling this area of the park at night since it seems to be an area rife with problems.
What happened to walking the beat?
I suggest that we round all of the teems up and put them in a teen center. Problem solved. If you are not 18+, get off the street at sunset.
And for those of you who are thinking, there are plenty of 18+ individuals out there causing problems, I agree, but for them, when they do, simply arrest them as adults and make them work to clean up the city instead of fines that don’t hinder their behavior. One solid 40 hour week of laying down tar in the summer should be sufficient enough to make them think twice the next time they think about harassing or mugging someone.
In the end, if this is not put into plan, I really hope someone who is attacked by kids like this eventually yells out loud “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”, and then simply offs one of these punks with a 357 – then maybe, just maybe, these thugs will start considering the choices they make.
Please seek help.
It sounds like you’re unfamiliar with what the word “news” means. A group of teenagers wandering through Central Park, or down Broadway, or anywhere else for that matter, and not committing any crimes, is NOT news. That’s why you don’t hear about it.
I agree 100% and I have no doubt there are some good and wonderful things being done by teens today.
Funny how in one sentence you seem to be mad at teens for their behavior but your ultimate suggestion should all your other bright ideas fail is to resort to worse behavior than the teens exhibited. Interesting! Besides your knight in shining armor already happened upon the scene ages ago. His name was Bernie Geotz.
As for “walking the beat”, some precinct commanders (too few in my opinion) are trying to get more cops to do as you suggest but the problem is that the police unions and even their superiors are still throwing a hissy fit over what the Mayor said last year about talking to his son about how to interact with cops. On the one hand cops want citizens to obey their command but they don’t want parents of black and latino children to have a talk with their children and point out that when dealing with officers they have to be careful, no quick movements, do as they say, etc…
I do not hate all teens, and I do not condone randomly pulling out a gun. But, I certainly believe that if someone did have a gun and used it on these particular types of teen groups/packs, I am certain we would see less of this happening. As per Bernie, yes I was alive and did travel on the subway when that happened, but it doesn’t mean it won’t happen again.
“HEY YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!!”
HAHAHAH!
My thoughts exactly. Kids today! Back in MY day we knew the value of a hard day’s work! Not like these guttersnipes today!
Oh, and by the way, a “pack of teens” volunteers every week at the food pantry 3 blocks away from me. So, uh — yeah.
Good for the teens who do volunteer and that is nice. While it is possible to infer that I am dumping all teens in one basket, that is not my intent. As in every cohort, there are indeed some good apples.
I agree with you round up all the teens on the street and bring them to the “teen center” but we need to give the good teens IDs so that if they are stopped they can show it and be on their way…
That is not at all what this is about. But what is interesting about your comment as it insinuates that some old person is yelling that the kids should not be on his/her lawn, is that in fact, the kids today don’t respect anyone else’s property or right to be free of harassment. Your comment, in the end, makes a point by way of me breaking it down for you. Or maybe, perhaps, you were just being a jokester – if so, then, I retract my reply.
Have these thugs ever heard of “Deathwish” ??
Stay tuned !
So we are going back to staying out of the park after dark?
It’s never been a good idea to be in the park after dark, sounds like stupidity and taking chances at your own risk, especially in Riverside Park. Those doorways to the tunnels under the park are left open every now and then, people living under there can be anyone hiding out. Be safe everyone
There was a time when we went in the park after dark?
Yes there was a time, when Guiliani and Bloomberg were mayors! Not so much with Warren Wilhem.
Crime was higher under Giuliani than it is now. Silly to go into the park at night in any case, under any mayor.
Welcome to the world of BDB.
NYC – going down the tubes in the fast lane.
Some of the most viscious attacks in the park I rememeber taking place during Giuliani’s terms. The parade summer of 99-2000 was one of the worst
BTW – our esteemed mayor BDB is at the Vatican.
Meeting his comrade socialist pal.
Not in NYC, the VATICAN.
Good show Mr. Mayor.
HEY, DONALD TRUMP IS A WAR HERO!
Oh, wait. No he’s not. That’s John McCain I’m thinking of. My bad.
The city should increase police patrols around the 102nd St transverse. That part of the park seems to have more crimes than most going way back. They should also install video cameras, possibly up high on the light posts. Then they could use facial recognition technology to catch some of these perps.
Been a resident of the UWS for nearly 48 years and these are the three rules I live by for a safe life here in the big apple, despite who’s running city hall:
1) NEVER mouth off to a cop
2) always look BOTH ways when crossing the street (the bikes!)
3) STAY OUT of Central Park after dusk.
Bring back the NYPD decoy unit–disbanded years ago but VERY effective….
So, ‘six teenage boys…’ clearly the elderly victim, MUST have had recollective notion WHO his antagonists were. Were they the piratical wolf pack from Dalton School or Calhoun. No? But if not or if so, they were wouldn’t we like to know on a ‘profile’ basis what human taxonomic phylum we’re likely dealing with here. Or, could they be nominal inner city youths. And could the latter possibly be, oh, let’s see, african american, hispanic, etc. or for that matter caucasian. The victim likely did not tread as though on eggshells as to same. I walk the park several times a week. Where is the information REPORTING due your readers, please? Thanks for the article. Peace.
Today I was sitting in the public garden near Plaza Cinema and was accosted by well dressed African American panhandler. When I said politely that I do not have money to give him, he stated with a triade of racist attacks and threats. He was very close to my face and I thought that one of us was about to be killed. Fortunatly another black maintenace man walked by and the panhadler was distracted and I went away. I looked around for police cars. There were none around, even as the police station is so close. The city is getting too dangerous for comfort. It is scary out there, even more scary than the 70’s because now the police are nowhere to be seen, and, understandably, probably reluctant to make arrests anyway.