86th street and West Drive. Photo via A Walk in the Park.
A man walking in Central Park around 86th street and West Drive on Monday night was attacked and robbed by two other men.
The victim, who is 38 years old, was walking on West Drive between 86th and 87th street wearing headphones around 8:35 p.m. when two men wearing ski masks came up behind him, according to CBS News and A Walk in the Park. One man punched the victim and both kicked him once he was down, according to A Walk in the Park.
“The assailants kicked the victim several times, and then pulled out knives and demanded his wallet.
The victim didn’t have a wallet. The criminals instead took his I phone and headphones and then fled on the Bridal Path heading East.
The victim was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital.
The criminals are believed to be male blacks, 20’s, one, 6-foot and the other 5-foot-8 wearing dark colored ski masks.”
As of January 25 (the most recent data available), there had been one misdemeanor assault in Central Park, but no felony assaults or robberies, according to crime stats.
If you have information, you can confidentially call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), submit a tip via www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text CRIMES (274637) and then enter TIP577.
This was a truly scary incident. However, your description of the assailants is not at all helpful. It’s gratuitous to mention their race unless you have a good description of the men. From this description alone the only thing the reader can take away would be a fear of African American men.
You can argue and debate root causes, or what might improve the situation, but vastly disproportionate violent crime committed by young, African American males is a fact. Should you discriminate against African Americans in hiring, socially, etc? Of course not. Is it common sense to be more vigilant in a street encounter with young African American males? Of course it is. Reporting race is, in fact, a valid fact that should inform every rational person’s level of awareness in the real world. Sorry that you don’t like reality, but them’s the facts.
Sally by mentioning race and gender the article vastly narrows the pool of suspects. Your PC thought policing does nothing but deprive the public of useful information about crime in the local area. As for the fear of African American men that is a conclusion you have chosen to draw making your own racism all too obvious.
If only I could believe this was satire.
You mean to say that if one of the robbers was 7’8″ tall and white, it would be wrong to state that he is white?
And what descriptions are you talking about?
They were wearing ski masks for Christ sake.
Enough with this PC crap;. Really!
You mean to say that if one was 7 feet 8 inches tall and white it will be wrong to mention that he is white?
What better description are you talking about?
They were wearing ski masks for Christ sake.
Are you kidding, Sally? By that crazy logic, perhaps the assailants shouldn’t have been described as being male either!
Sally, you should direct your comments to CBS News, not WSR for the description. And the race of alleged attackers is important for law enforcement looking for the scumbags on local security cameras.
Identifying them as black men doesn’t fit neatly in your little box of political correctness, however that doesn’t mean the man who got beat down doesn’t deserve to have his assailants captured by any means necessary. And yes that would include stating their race.
Well said Sam
Let’s get these sick, cowardly monsters off our streets and behind bars!
How could he be sure they were black if they were wearing ski masks? Don’t ski masks cover your entire face? presumably they were also wearing gloves….
Please tell me you were being sarcastic.
Bridal path or bridle path??
2 points:
1. Sucks that there are more muggings going on in this area now. Something needs to be done.
2. (Here it comes..) Why would you walk alone in Central Park, at night, when it’s 10 degrees out? Just use common sense people – understand that crime rates are up (depending on who you ask) and you need to be VERY AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS at all times. Walking in a dark park with headphones on does not make that possible.
Again – I think it’s AWFUL that this man was mugged violently, and I hope they catch and prosecute the men who did this. But we all do need to be responsible for ourselves, the best we can.
I Sooo totally agree with you 93rd St. People Have to Use Their Common Sense! Be street smart!
I bet that if someone was able to look at the number of crimes on the uws before and after our great mayor stopped the “stop and Frisk” law there would be a huge correlation between when the law ended and when the crime rate went up
Once again, the ‘stop and frisk law’ is illegal and a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. Besides that, it has lead to an increasing distrust of law enforcement and has proven to have little effect on crime. Prime example: Would it have stopped these two thugs? Questioned, searched, let go.
That’s nonsense Wally, they were carrying knives. If they were stopped they would have at a minimum had their knives taken away, and possibly been arrested.
Agreed Sam. And furthermore if they knew there was a chance that they would have been stopped and frisked, they might not have been carrying knives in the first place. I know I wouldn’t have.
The search and seizure would have been illegal. Period. And it’s costing the city (taxpayers) millions.
If you (Bratton, DeBlasio, Lynch) cannot maintain law and order without breaking the law, you are incompetent and should be replaced.
Except for the fact that that isn’t true, good point!
Di Blasio
every crime that is reported seems to be an excuse for some here to call for the reinstatement of Bloomberg-era “stop and frisk.”
I think people don’t know what it is that has changed. Don’t you guys think you should know the facts?
I ask those of you above who made this point: what is it that you think was done beforehand that CAN NOT be done now? What practice, precisely, do you want to bring back, or to install on the UWS?
The Terry stop. As enshrined in Terry v. Ohio (1968). A stop based on suspicion of criminal activity but short of probable cause. The NYPD did 700,000 of these in 2011 and less than 10% of that in 2014.
Happy now Bruce?
Scott said:
” A stop based on suspicion of criminal activity but short of probable cause. The NYPD did 700,000 of these in 2011 and less than 10% of that in 2014.”
well, exactly…because the 700,000 they were doing in the Bloomberg era were not based on “suspicion of criminal activity.” they were based on racial profiling.
the 70,000 that they are doing now are based on actual suspicion of criminal activity.
So if a police officer spotted the guys who did this and had any suspicion they were carrying knives… he could have stopped and frisked them. Today.
So — what is the problem? what are you guys complaining about?
A terry stop is a smoke screen for the more abusive searches and frisks. A terry stop is from another time and place completely. It’s like when people complain that S&F is mislabeled by not being referred to as stop QUESTION and frisk. When everyone knows it’s stop, put your effing hands behind your head and shut the hell up, and frisk. We can go back and forth all day but a civil rights violation is always more important than easing affluent anxiety.
Affluent anxiety? Most crime victims are not affluent, and live very close to the perpetrators. Your snide reference cheapens their lives and their experiences. Shame on you.
They aren’t the ones commenting on this website. I know exactly where I stand.
I wish you shared such passion and conviction for the victims of this and other violent crimes.
I blame the victim. He could have easily defended himself by distracting the robbers with statistics on how crime has decreased under our great mayor.
I was there around 930p that night and everything seemed fine. Not that I walk with my wallet or phone anymore. A steaming bag of dog dump is about all they’d get.
The timing of this is either well planned or very lucky. 20 mins later and a ton of people show up with their dogs. 830p really is a quiet time in the park this time of year.
Can’t remember the last time I read a mugging story on this site where the assailants were white…
Enough with the political correctness, statistically speaking, a mugger in NYC is overwhelmingly going to be black
and therefore you’re advocating… genocide? forced sterilization? other?
Dirk, lol…
sadly, what they are actually advocating (and don’t have the cojones to say) is that most or all Black and Hispanic males who walk through the UWS get “stop and frisked.”
Steve,
Bravo for having the balls to tell it like it is.
If you guys are horrified by this, click over to A Walk in the Park to see their latest story. Wow.
Uggh, horrible! As a dad who just enjoyed a weekend of sledding with my two little girls, this makes me really sad. Thanks Jeremy. https://awalkintheparknyc.blogspot.com/
what an awful episode!
Black men, white men, green men, who cares.
i am a white woman with a white dog whom i take to the park for a stroll evey day after work: it is relaxing for me and it is necessary exercise for him. i have the right to go to the park without being afraid of some lunatic attacking me from behing with a knife, or some lunatic who thinks being smart means locking myself and my dog at home because “the park is dangereous!”
we, as citizens of Neew York, deserve better than this
The censorship on this message board is getting a little ridiculous. Is there another forum available to UWSers that want to engage in open debate?
Want to debate the points another commenter has made? Go for it! Want to write a comment just to call the person “crazy”? Nope. There are literally hundreds of sites — along with twitter and Yahoo message boards — that will let you do that, but this isn’t one of them. WSR
“You can’t argue with crazy” is an expression and while confrontational shouldn’t warrant censorship. This site however employs arbitrary and inconsistent policing. You allow commentators to make comments which are borderline insane, but if I call ’em like I see ’em, you delete the comment. Good stuff man.
Sam – you is THE man!
Sam – yes, there are a couple of other Forums:
“Paranoids united”
“How to claim alleged cencorship while hiding behind a nickname”
Yes Angie, like you I use a nickname on here. Not sure what your point is perhaps you can enlighten me.
Increased police patrols along Riverside Drive would be good idea. I have lived in the W.90′s near the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial for sometime and it has felt increasingly unsafe. Rarely do I see NYPD cruising the area…especially at night. Its a no brainer. It is an isolated area and many children play there- which will only increase when the weather gets warmer. There has been an increase in vagrancy and a surge in property defacement (i.e.,graffiti). I am afraid the area is taking a turn for the worse. Parents should remind their children to stay vigilant and encourage their local precincts to heighten security. If the NYPD doesn’t step up to the challenge it is the UWS community that should respond with community watch groups that patrol Riverside Drive and the park paths. Just a thought from a concerned citizen.