By Carol Tannenhauser
Three alleged robbers, shown above, are wanted by the NYPD in connection with three recent robberies or attempted robberies, two on the Upper West Side and one on the Upper East Side.
On August 2, at approximately 2:45 a.m., a 17-year-old male, in the vicinity of West 63rd Street and Broadway, was approached by strangers who punched him and took his wallet, before fleeing in an unknown direction, a police report said. The victim was not injured.
On August 8, at approximately 4:45 a.m., a 17-year-old male in the vicinity of 63rd Street and Broadway, police did not say if it was the same one, was approached by strangers who showed him a knife before fleeing in an unknown direction. No property was taken and no injuries reported.
The third incident took place on August 11 at East 59th Street and Second Avenue. The individuals allegedly struck a 65-year-old man in the back, causing him to fall to the ground, then took $300 from him before fleeing in an unknown direction, police said. The victim sustained abrasions to the elbow and back and was treated at the scene by EMS.
Anyone with information regarding these suspects or incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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The people, by who they vote in, allow for this to happen. And that can’t be denied. If there was any fear of apprehension and punishment. you wouldn’t have this.
Totally. No one was ever robbed during the Bloomberg or Giuliani administrations. Eye roll.
Yes, you are correct, but once caught, they were tried and if found guilty, were put away in the big house.
Now they get away with it. Thank you DA Braggs.
It was a fact that Giuliani, for all of his failings otherwise, restored quite a bit of order in the city. Why feel the need to be so glib? We need serious conversation now on where we are and where we would like to go.
Crime actually hit rock bottom under De Blasio and, though higher than the bottom today, it is well below the lowest level reached by Giuliani.
Crime definitely did decrease during the Giuliani administration. Most of that decrease was part of a general nationwide decrease in crime during the 1990s and 2000s. New York City did see a steeper decrease in crime than the nation as a whole did during Giuliani’s time as mayor, and it’s fair to give him credit for that difference. But he does not get credit for NYC merely being part of a nationwide trend.
Here’s an interesting article that discussed possible reasons for that nationwide trend: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/what-caused-the-crime-decline/477408/
I walked around Manhattan at all hours of the night when Bloomberg was mayor; I was NEVER accosted, NEVER afraid and felt perfectly secure whether riding the subway or walking a street. Don’t tell me that things were the same under Bloomberg or Giuliani!
It sounds to me like the big difference is that you’re more scared now than you were in the past. Could it be that this is because you’re hearing about every single crime in a way that you never would have before the days of social media, and not because you’re objectively less safe?
I won’t tell you things were the same. There was much more serious crime under Bloomberg and Giuliani.
This is happening everywhere at all
Times of day. Same groups of people over and over again. Nothing done. Roll your eyes to the back of your head all you want. This wasn’t done in any recent administration. This is the Alvin Bragg Day One Memo gift that keeps on giving.
Any elections from here on out, I’m voting for whomever says they’ll be the strictest in punishing these losers. No more “It’s gotta be a Democrat” from me. I’m DONE.
You are 100% correct in your thoughts. People need to stop worrying about D or R and vote in common sense law & order.
Unfortunately it will take several years of doing that to even get things back to where they were 2012-2019. It’s much easier to tear things down than it is to build them up.
Get a grip, Bill! NOBODY wants this to happen, and there’s no need to politicize this violence.
Well, as a Democrat, I can say that if a politician votes for bail reform, raise the age of culpability, or other egregious laws, like the Diaphragm Compression bill, then yes, it is political. Capturing the punks is not the problem. Laws that put them back out on the streets are the problem. So, it is very political, whether you understand it or not. Criminals need to be held accountable and not suffer simply a slap on the wrist. There needs to be real consequences for crimes and a free rein to defend oneself, too.
Do you realize this violence is CAUSED by laws passed by people elected by the people? The robbers in this case are under 18 years old, this means thanks to RAISE THE AGE a law passed by NY Politicians, when arrested the case goes to Family Court in almost all instances. This means Zero punishment. A 17-year-old who hits you over the head and takes your wallet can’t even be put in a cell at the Precinct, he goes to a special room for Children. So yes public safety is a political issue.
Yet that 17 year old, with parents’ signature can join the military and go to war. The United States, not just NYC is circling the
I hope that these individuals are caught, and promptly released with a very stern warning that if they do this again they will be caught, and promptly released with a very stern warning that if they do this again they will be caught, and promptly released with a very stern warning.
Looking forward to the comments suggesting this is our fault. These you g men were not offered fun summer enrichment programs. Boys will be boys. Covid lockdowns affected their mental health. And whatever. Lack of consequences is the reason. Even if they get caught they know nothing will happen to them and at some point, free single housing will be the reward. Our city is breeding a generation of hoodlums. Well done.
Gretchen has a point. Teenage “hoodlums” weren’t invented in NYC until the de Blasio administration.
They ARE offered summer enrichment programs. Summer Rising is a city wide program that is free.
She was being facetious.
Fine their parents.
I don’t think they have any. I’m worried abt the youth of America. Since when/ what generation did violence by young ppl proliferate society and then knowing the median age of mass shooters in America to date is scary young – 16 yrs old ?!
August 2? August 8? Taking a while to get the word out. For a different approach to police sharing information about crime, see this site for Las Vegas: https://opendata-lvmpd.hub.arcgis.com/
You should not wait for the media to tell you wants going on
CompStat 2.0 has been up and running with even better data and posting time frames
Or you could put the Citizens App on your phone. I work on the UES and this happens on a regular basis, near 86th from 5th to Lexington. Always ‘kids,’ and they behave like it’s some sort of game. I can only imagine that they choose this area because of the easy escape routes through the park or the subway station. I’m just waiting for the day that they pick on the wrong victim who will stop them in their tracks.
Citizen app is notoriously not accurate
I have lost count of the times fireworks went over as shots fired
It’s been very helpful to me and alerted me several times when I was just steps away from a crime taking place at night, primarily in the area of Broadway between 68th and 72nd, with DR, the subway, and Urgent Care being the prime locations. I was also alerted the night the building next to me was on fire, and my neighbors and I were safely out on the sidewalk before the FDNY arrived to evacuate both buildings. Sadly, one night I saw a video of the top floor of a high rise burning on the UES, and realized it was the office building where I worked. People who post videos are concerned about their safety as well as their neighbors You can also listen to the 911 calls and the reports are updated.
If alerted me about the shooter in the park when my child was there. It even alerted me about occupied stuck elevator in my own bldg when my friend was there
This is one of the bluest places in America. If I fully assume that everyone on this site voted for this, I’ll be right a lot more than I’ll be wrong.
Maybe someday WSR could do an article called “UWS GOP sightings”.
This city has a lower crime rate than every major city in Texas and Florida except darker blue Austin.
That includes Miami, Jacksonville and Fort Worth all of which have republican mayors.
If you google “city crime rate by mayor party” you will get lots of data. It’s not good.
I did. This is the top hit, from Newsweek;
“Republican Cities That Have Higher Crime Rates Than New York
BY ANDREW STANTON ON 4/17/23 AT 6:01 PM EDT”
Those cities are villages compared to NY and not comparable.
You can’t compare NYC to cities that have populations of 442K, 950K, & 919K whereas NY has 8.8 million people. Among the largest cities in the USA, NYC has a lower crime index than LA, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, & Dallas. They are all run by Democrat mayors.
It’s very easy to have a lower crime rate when crimes go unreported and unpunished.
Crimes have always gone unreported and that was a point of contention in the Giuliani years as well.
Crimes are registered by the PD, as they are reported, so the level at which they’re prosecuted is irrelevant.
I would be interested to compare types of crime. Are other cities suffering from mindless young people attacking and robbing people? It absolutely stems from a lawlessness that was allowed to fester during COVID that now seems to be the norm
Error in this Articke:
You mean August 11,
Not April 11, Right!
From this portion of this article:
“The third incident took place on April 11 at East 59th Street and Second Avenue.”
Thanks!
right wingers are trying to politicize every single incident of crime on the UWS. do they remember that the lowest crime rate in NYC in the last 40 years, maybe longer, was under De Blasio.
No! Not possible! everyone who voted for De Blasio voted for MORE CRIME! right?
This is the UWS, there are no right-wingers. Almost everyone votes Democrat without even looking at the candidates and why we are in this frightening mess. It’s time for a change with moderates who care about crime and safety. And DeBlasio rode the coat tails of Bloomberg. He didn’t change anything until his 2nd term which started the city’s demise back to the bad days. Time for a change.
I’m confused: Giuliani served two terms and Bloomberg served three. That’s 20 consecutive years under a Republican mayor, and our current mayor is a former cop.
Can you suggest some “moderates who care about crime and safety” who are not also anti abortion rights, pro gun lobby, pro tax cuts for the wealthy, anti environmental laws (so corporations can do whatever they want ), etc? I can’t bring myself to support those things, so wind up voting Democrat as “lesser of evils” even though I do favor more “tough on crime” policies.
Bruce,
People are allowed to complain about the revolving door….
What you’re doing now is gaslighting.
Maybe you have not experienced any crime,
maybe you haven’t been sucker punched,
maybe you haven’t been hit by a bike,
maybe you’ve not been robbed,
Maybe you haven’t been exposed to someone masturbating on the subway
But other people who have been.
I am a lifelong New Yorker, and this is the worst I’ve ever experienced it.
I like to complain here, but I was like to reach out to my elected officials and let them know that a teenager that is stealing a six pack of beer and a teenager knocking a 60 year old man down and robbing him shouldn’t have the same consequences which is nothing.
Maybe watch this video.
I spoke to Alvin Bragg’s office and was told that these girls were going to family court.
This is a Hate Crrime, and this happened to a family with two young children who were visiting from out of town. Tourists here to have a nice time in our city. Two children watched their mother get attacked, viciously. Do you think those two children were traumatized by what they witnessed, do you think they will ever get over it? Oh and Their crime to these hostile teens was that they were Asian.
https://twitter.com/aallasson/status/1687627471842357254?s=42&t=C0zdaYLRc_5dIU6Su3roJA
So now, I am calling Heasties office to complain about raise the age and it’s just giving these young teenagers more license to behave badly and terrorize our population.
“I am a lifelong New Yorker, and this is the worst I’ve ever experienced it.”
You must be in your early 20’s, then. Because I’m also a lifelong New Yorker, and it’s an indisputable fact that crime was much worse in the 70s, 80s and 90s than it is today. Consider yourself lucky that you have no experience of the real “bad old days.”
Gotta stop calling everyone right-wingers because they don’t want crime.
reply to Matt C:
no one wants crime. Apparently you didn’t read what i wrote. So I’ll reiterate:
the right wingers POLITICIZE crime, and take every incident of crime and try to pin it on liberals. Further, they try to use these incidents to support their agendas. We have seen many people on the WSR comments boards advocate for bringing back Bloomberg-era “stop and frisk”, which more accurately would be called racial profiling / Jim Crow style policing.
Other people want to try juveniles as adults — a very bad idea. And they want to do away with bail reform, which overall is a success, and is a good step towards ending the carceral state,
Another frequent comment boils down to “the only way to stop crime is to vote Republican.”
I pointed out that the most successful recent Mayor against crime, based on statistics, is De Blasio. That must stick in their craws.
Crime is down and NYC remains one of the safest, if not THE safest, large city in the US. So what is the answer? the right wingers will tell us that the statistics are all lies.
I guess the statistics were true under Giuliani and Bloomberg but lies under De Blasio and Adams.
Nope. sorry. My characterization is accurate.
And yes, I have been a crime victim.
It is ironic (or perhaps sad) that you accuse people of not reading what you wrote when you clearly don’t read what they right.
The vast majority of us commenting here are Democrats. We are not Republicans. I would bet the bulk of us despise Trump and have voted Democrat 90+% of the time. We are just a) more moderate than you, and b) living in a place closer to the real world. Perhaps you should leave the five boroughs occasionally and then you would meet some real Republicans. You really wouldn’t like them and would be more grateful for us. And it is your type of woke hyperbole that really fires them up and gets them to vote for Trump.
You continue to keep your head in the sand and ignore the issue. And you insult a lot of your neighbors in the process.
Bruce I’m confused why you are so defensive against comments suggesting crime is up. It is. Every single time you walk by a “smoke shop” with the lights on, and without a certified sticker verifying its compliance with State law, a crime is being committed. They are illegally selling narcotics. But it is permitted with reckless impunity. And it’s an un-reported crime, like many others. And there are hundreds of them, if not thousands, across this city. This is just one example of an administration that has failed and refused to combat crime. Not only that, these stores have flags and banners outside of them, they are thumbing their nose at law enforcement because they know there is no enforcement. The politicians just, don’t, care. If it was a store illegally selling booze it would be shut down immediately, but because illegal pot is a “progressive issue”, it’s allowed. It’s happening all across the city and zero is being done about it.
> Bloomberg-era “stop and frisk”, which more accurately would be called racial profiling / Jim Crow style policing.
No, it’s accurately called “stop and frisk”.
You can stop an frisk a white person, a brown person, or even a “pregnant person”.
Theoretically, sure, but in practice black people and brown people are the ones were targeted for stop & frisk.
reply to Joe:
did you even live here during the Bloomberg racial profiling era? You don’t seem to be aware of what went on.
90% of the people who were stopped and frisked during that era were Blacks and Hispanics. Most young Black men living in MNYC were stopped multiple times, with no probable cause.
Bloomberg himself admitted that they were engaged in racial profiling.
Here are some statistics you might want to spend a little time with:
https://www.nyclu.org/en/closer-look-stop-and-frisk-nyc
How many guns were left under the mattress by White, Black, and Brown bad guys for fear of being stopped and frisked?
Can liberals for once just stop demonizing people and using ad homenem attacks? Leave party, religion, race out of things. Let’s please talk about the issues without these divisions or we are not going to get anywhere.
Um, you want to end divisions but the first thing you do is say that liberals demonize people? Have you not noticed the endless comments bashing liberals for “voting for crime”?
Yes, I am asking a group of people who seem to think that ad homenem attacks suffice for argument. You proved it again by insulting me rather than addressing my point. It is actually true unfortunately. And yes, to change the current state of affairs re crime, we have to vote out the people who have created this. Race, religion, party etc., are irrelevent.
I didn’t insult you. I pointed out that you insulted an entire group of people while claiming to want to end divisions. Demonizing people you disagree with isn’t a liberal thing.
I long for the day when WSR has no crime to report. Wouldn’t it be great if articles were about positive achievements? I’m sure there are many young men in this neighborhood who do really positive things. Wish those folks would step forward so we don’t have to be always reminded about all the crooks and thugs.
And we’re still 25% below the best year of the Giuliani administration when he “made us safe.”
I’d comment on the horrendous crime situation that is plaguing our neighborhood. The elderly who are beaten on the street, the shoplifting, the businesses closing. Perhaps the criminals should be the ones behind lock and key instead of toothpaste and ice cream.
Yes, I’d comment on all that, but WSR seems to find my postings offensive, and refuses to post MOST of them.
Me too. Congrats on getting through
The fact is that unless you have law enforcement on every block, these kinds of unpredictable incidents are going to happen. Unless you want our taxes to go up 500% you are not going to get that number of cops. I think to a great extend these cameras are helping to identify kids like this.
As to why such incidents happen, this senior citizen believes it’s mostly due to absentee or bad parenting.
Fun fact, NYC spends less money on 1 rookie cop. per month than 1 migrant.
I prefer to vote for people and not parties. In NYS and NYC we have one party rule. So there is very little in the way of debate or a contest of ideas, with the best emerging. Instead, we get back room deals on the budget priorities, and laws (like the bail laws), etc. In those settings, the lobbyists and unions have the most sway since it is all done behind closed doors. There are good people and bad people in both parties, and that is why I like to choose rather than just be taken for granted. Now when I read the reader comments on these articles, I see that there are lots of different points of view, and also nuance, none of which we get if we listen to the party in control — whichever one it is at any given time. If you like the status quo, then keep voting according to the party line, and then they have the power to continue doing as they please. If you dislike the status quo — which most people who post comments seem to reflect — then I think it makes sense to choose people to exercise our governmental power in ways we approve of. To me, that means a change in who we elect, the quality and character of those we elect and the loyalties of those elect. That is not happening in NYC or NYS at this point. Just look at the sorry parade of the politicians we have had for a good many years. Yuck.
And then consider the things that we think should be done which are not being done, and not even acknowledged or talked about by them, including the failure to do a simple and obvious thing — enforce the existing laws regarding traffic lights, one way streets, etc. Are they idiots and morons, or are they happy with their power and indifferent to the needs of the public? Either way, is that who you want to run the show?
Before the victims get blamed for being out too late or too early, please check the time that the elderly man was attacked-
Cops also tie the trio to an Upper East Side robbery on the corner of East 59th Street and Second Avenue on Aug. 11 about 8:05 a.m., police said.
8:05 am
That’s the time folks are going to work.
Folks, I ask you once again, to help our senior citizens, the women, and our children, by reaching out to the one person who has all the power here
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie adamantly defends Raise the Age, arguing that youths must be held to a different standard because their brains are still developing.
Make your voice heard.
Join me in politely and respectfully letting our elected officials know what is happening on our streets.
When I call, I’m being told that hardly anyone is complaining – please reach out.
Albany Office
518-455-3791
District Office
1446 East Gun Hill Road
Bronx, NY 10469
718-654-6539
It’s time to start holding the 20th Precinct accountable.
When’s the last time you’ve seen a uniformed officer patrolling the neighborhood on foot?
Foot posts? Thats laughable. Maybe someone should ask Zuber or the other UWS precinct whiteshirt what their staffing looks like compared to 5-8 years ago? How about their average years of experience on patrol? How many years of experience do their average precinct detective unit guys even have? I can tell you that when you see an older cop looking at their phone there is a good chance they are checking how much time they have left to go on their retirement app, and the few good young ones are wondering if they got called by a better agency yet. Many of the rest should be bagging groceries. They may be very nice people at the community picnic but they aren’t cops.
Why did things look ok under De Blasio for a while? He inherited a crimefighting machine that, like Wiley Coyote, hadn’t realized that it had run over the edge of the cliff yet. He also was smart enough to hire Bratton, who was perhaps the most innovative police executive of this generation. He needed to have some cover for his “soft on crime” reputation. Bratton only lasted a year or so in that clownshow and the rest is history. The UWS and the rest of the city were just fortunate that De Blasio’s laziness inhibited his ability to destroy the NYPD faster.
Its a shame, but it probably takes about 5-10 of today’s cops to be as effective as 1 guy from a few years ago.
There was a man slashed on 86th and broadway yesterday also.
Giuliani ran the City like an occupied Country, Bloomberg ran it like a business. De Blasio ran it like a 5 year old, seeing how many legs he can rip off a spider and can still crawl.
People are going to start taking matters into their own hands and it won’t be pretty.
Can we say “lesson learned” New York? We voted for the candidates that we thought we be inclusive and compassionate. It has backfired in our faces, It is clear that the honor system does not work It takes laws, tough laws, and the enforcement of those laws to keep law abiding, tax paying citizens safe. We work hard to live here. We pay taxes, we follow the rules. We should make the decisions on how our city is run. I’m sorry, I understand evryone has rights, but it seems the rights every other group outside of law abiding citizens is being given priority. Call me a Karen, call me a NIMBY. I don’t care. I’m tired of this S&^%, I’m not leaving my city. I’m using my vote to fire everyone who has let this community down. We need to speak with our right to vote. The party is over. We want our neighborhood back.
People keep making statements like this, but we voted for Adams, who ran on a “crime is out of control and I will fight it” platform. People didn’t vote for a progressive candidate. He’s just turned out to not be up to the job.
It’s the current city council, state senators and state assembly making the laws and THEY need to be voted out. Not the Mayor entirely.
I was almost punched by a strapping man in his 30s outside of the Duane Reade at 79th and Amsterdam yesterday. He asked for money, I said no. He started screaming at me and raised his fists. Perhaps it was my own fault for even responding but I’m fed up. I’m also 5 ft. 2 in tall, 106 pounds . . . the strong preying on the weak, as usual. Had a hard time sleeping last night.
Without minimizing the importance of the debate about crime mitigation and policy, let’s remember that as the pandemic dragged on, the entire nation saw an uptick in crime, and many of the same kinds of crimes.
One of things that shook us all up–people walking out of drug stores with armloads of stolen items–started happening everywhere. This particularly brazen type of theft gives us (myself included) a sense that lawlessness is all around us, and leads us to feel that crime MUST be worse even if, as all the stats make clear, it is not.
Thank you for not minimizing the importance of the debate about crime.
The uptick in crime had *nothing* to do with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trust in ‘the stats’ is very, very low.
We need to get more people back to working in offices and not their homes anymore. That would put a larger number of people in the streets, subway, and stores whose presence would be a deterrent to the lawlessness we now experience.