By Gus Saltonstall
A man was robbed at knifepoint Wednesday on the Upper West Side, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
A 29-year-old man was standing outside of 73 West 85th Street, near the corner of Columbus Avenue, around 7:15 p.m., when a man in a black face mask came up to him and flashed a knife, police said.
The culprit then snatched the victim’s cellphone and fled on foot in an unknown direction, police said. The 29-year-old man was not injured in the interaction, NYPD added.
There have been no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.
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Sounds like someone from ICE…
Is there any way to get more reporting on traffic injuries? We get an article for every robbery but nothing for the 21 traffic injuries we’ve had this month. https://crashmapper.org/#/?cfat=true&cinj=true&endDate=2026-01&geo=community_board&identifier=107&lat=40.78554566198343&lng=-73.96884441375731&lngLats=%255B%255D&mfat=true&minj=true&noInjFat=false&pfat=true&pinj=true&startDate=2026-01&vbicycle=true&vbusvan=true&vcar=true&vmotorcycle=true&vother=true&vscooter=true&vsuv=true&vtruck=true&zoom=15
For people who say “it’s just an injury” please read this https://jewishcurrents.org/after-the-hit-and-run
Find My Phone will lead police directly to thief, but do the police ever catch any of these criminals? Do the courts ever incarcerate them?
When you see someone in full face black mask, move away. That person is up to no good. I see this and am alert immediately.
An apparent druggie tried something like this with me back in the ’80s near Broadway & 88th Street (in front of Mike’s Lumber, for those of you who remember). It didn’t quite work and, to omit a few details, he scuttled away in astonishment, sans knife. And then there was the time, also in the raw ’80s, when some zany fellow was swinging a lawn chair (yes!) around, menacing passers-by on Broadway. He tried it with me near 84th Street and ended up doing a sort of 360-degree back-flip onto the sidewalk, landing posterior first, with his lawn chair a considerable distance down the street.
I’ve thankfully had no such trouble since then; maybe the word went out.
I’m not advocating firmness, mind you, but merely reporting my own experiences of many years ago, back when things were more civilized.