By Gus Saltonstall
The New York Police Department is looking for two men connected to a string of recent moped necklace robberies, including on the Upper West Side and in Morningside Heights, police said on Thursday.
From October 3 to November 3, there have been nine separate incidents of women being robbed in Manhattan by men riding mopeds, police said.
Locally, a 23-year-old woman was walking along West 88th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam about 4:40 p.m. on October 11, when two people drove up to her on separate mopeds and forcibly yanked a chain off her neck, before fleeing on the vehicles, police said.
A few weeks later on November 2, a 49-year-old woman was walking on Broadway and West 122nd Street about 3 p.m., when a man on a moped sped up to her and grabbed a chain off her neck, before driving off, police said.
There were no injuries reported in either incident, NYPD added.
The majority of the nine moped robberies took place in Washington Heights and women were exclusively targeted in the attacks, police said.
NYPD released multiple photos of the suspects, but the pictures are grainy and difficult to make out.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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How is it that we have cameras that can read a license plate from space, and cameras on our phones that rival the resolution of the best professional equipment from a few years ago, but every security camera in the world generates images that look like they were shot through a jar of Vaseline?
There is no license plates on these mopeds and the perps are wearing masks, but it’s a great question.
I have been waiting in dread for these stories. There are soooo many people on speedy vehicles and they can get so close to pedestrians. Especially at night, it’s scary
Another reason why they should be licensed and registered!!! Call your council person and tell them so.
Mopeds are already required to be registered and drivers licensed. City council has nothing to do with NYPD’s lack of enforcement.
That is incorrect. Only gas powered vehicles need license plates under current law.
Jay:
No, e-mopeds don’t need licenses.
Gas scooters, which are really small motorcycles, do. However less than half have plates/insurance, and the when the machine has a legitimate plate, it is oft obscured.
Agree – but let’s take it a step farther – and ban these vehicles which have no place on our streets.
It’s sad we have to do this, but fellow women – refrain from wearing necklaces or flashy jewelry, and wear your purse across your body, especially if it’s a small purse (or wear underneath your coat if it’s small). Or use a really big tote over your shoulder that would be too difficult for them to swipe easily. I put on my nice jewelry once I get to the event or restaurant I’m going to, and then take it off and store in my bag if I’m walking home. Regrettably we have to take these precautions.
Agreed. I grew up in the 80s and clearly remember that when she went out, my mom would tuck any necklace into her shirt so that it couldn’t be grabbed. It is sad that it has come to this but I would advise people to do this. People need to be more street smart.
Or we could just stay at home and hope that we are not the victims of a home invasion.
I don’t want to be a prisoner of vigilance. I want safety on our streets.
Women exclusively being targeted in these attacks. Women. War on women.
And yet, all the pols say there is no crime issue…
Speaking of which, here are some facts from another recent article in WSR:
Citywide YTD 11/5/23 YTD 11/5/22 % Change
Murder 331 375 -11.7%
Rape 1,235 1423 -13.2%
Robbery 14,159 14,879 -4.8%
Fel. Assault 23,824 22,480 6.0%
Burglary 11,701 13,486 -13.2%
Gr. Larceny 42,714 44,157 -3.3%
GLA 13,551 11,494 17.9%
Hate Crimes 424 555 -23.6%
No, nobody says there is no crime issue. One can make a case that crime (at least many kinds of crime) is not higher than historical data, but don’t make a strawman of the issue. Facts are good.
“Facts all come with points of view,
Facts don’t do what I want them to”
-Talking Heads
Easy there, Easy There: .Mr. McClure was being ironic.
These scooters and dirt bike riders operate with impunity. They are an absolute menace and cops won’t do a thing about it. Why??
Chase the bike and he crashes and is hurt or dies or hits someone it becomes “indict the cop” and “fire the cop”. Catch the guy and he resists it becomes”oh the bad cop from the suburbs used too much force” or “they are disproportionately targeting minorities”. Which then also becomes “indict/fire the cop”. The only way to win is not to play.
Yes, they have come to realize that it is safer to not get invilved.
They don’t even have to chase anyone. They are parked on my street clear as day – police drive past them all day every day. Lazy as crap
If a person on a moped is riding on the sidewalk they should have the vehicle impounded and be forced to pay a huge fine to get it back. Enough of the women should not wear jewelry kind of thinking.
Unlicensed, unregistered mopeds should not be permitted in NYC let alone on any sidewalk, ever.
Have you EVER seen a policeman stop a bike or moped for riding on the sidewalk for running a red light?
I dont think they allowed to stop them, per the laws that exist.
Do you honestly believe that people who commit robberies are concerned with vehicle traffic laws?
They would be if the police enforced them.
I think all mopeds, e-bikes, motorized scooters should all be licensed with plates.
2 weeks ago I was crossing Amsterdam on 81 street and almost got hit by a bike going in the wrong direction in the bike lane.
The situation is really getting out of hand
The gas powered ones without plates are illegal motorcycles. And the NYPD should seize them upon discovery.
The e machines should be speed limited to 10MPH. The state should never have legalized them in early 2019. And they need to obey traffic laws, which they don’t. But the NYPD cluelessly and arrogantly classes these machines’ infractions as “quality of life issues”. Tell that to the family of the Jing Fong manager killed at 78th and Amsterdam a bit more than 2 years ago.
Enough! Enough!! Get them all visibly licensed! Now!
More evidence of the NYPD, Mayor, and City Council not caring about the huge scooter problem.
Most are illegal, nearly all are driven in illegal ways, and here some are being used in robberies, for not the first time.
But the NYPD classes most of these issues as “quality of life” infractions.
For stealth, I assume the scooters were e.
These mopeds, e-scooters, etc are an absolute blight on our neighborhood. THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED in a real way !! Stealing necklaces/purses, but also mowing people down (killing some) and causing general safety issues at any/all time of day regardless of age/gender by riding anywhere they like at any time, dismissive of laws (stopping at red lights, not riding on the sidewalk, going the correct way on a one way street). The cops say there is little they can do – the “laws aren’t there” to enforce, they cannot chase these people down, they can’t mandate license plates on these vehicles, etc. But I think it’s time to CREATE SOME LAWS and ENFORCE the ones that do exist.
This is like Mad Max – what has the UWS become? Does anyone have the inside scoop on how local government is addressing this larger issue?
Look into NYC-EVSA (e-vehicle safety alliance) who is a group of people injured by e-bikes and others who are fighting for regulation of e-vehicles which are currently entirely unregulated by both the city and state. There is a bill proposed by a council member Bob Holden to license riders of e-vehicles. Call your council member and tell them to support it.
If only NYPD would enforce mopeds and motorcycles without license plates as well as driving on sidewalks… we wouldn’t have problems like this. Abomination
Who tied the hands of the NYPD? The people of the city of New York. You made heroes out of villains and villains out of heroes, now you expect to be safe , sorry it doesn’t work like that. The NYPD are toothless tigers thanks to politicians like De Blasio and Alvin Bragg. But who do you blame? The NYPD.
I do blame them. Get a truck and take them off the streets where they are parked
I call nonsense. Doing your job well as a police officer without using excessive force or violating anyone’s civil rights shouldn’t be a conundrum. And blaming politicians (or citizens who protested against the murder of George Floyd) is silly and absurd.
(And by the way, for whatever it’s worth, de Blasio did little or nothing to confront or even criticize the scores of NYC police officers who blatantly and egregiously violated New Yorkers’ civil rights in the 2020 protests.)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-pay-13-million-protesters-arrested-during-george-floyd-protests-2023-07-20/
I’m so disgusted right now. This article was about two women being attacked. The unlicensed vehicles are a completely different issue but the conversation always seems to devolve into this. Do you realize it’s been 2 years since Lisa Banes was mowed down by a scooter? This isn’t something that just started happening! Why doesn’t everyone who is against unlicensed vehicles get together and do something about it instead of incessantly complaining about it in this forum?! >:(
I’ve called my council person who barely cared to listen, and stopped by every precinct from 110 to 75th and am met with blank stares. Police say there’s nothing they can do. What else can be done?? Wait for more lives to be lost? It’s absolutely insane. And infuriating. So unsafe.
I agree. I’ve met that blank stare on more than one occasion, and for more than one issue. No one wants to believe that any QOL problem is real until it personally affects them or someone in their life.
Don’t these individuals know that the items they are grabbing belong to someone else? It is against the law to take what is not yours. They are committing a crime here! They should return these items to the rightful owners.