By Gus Saltonstall
There were two separate muggings in the last 24 hours in Central Park, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
Early Tuesday morning, at around 1 a.m., a group of teenagers snatched AirPods and jewelry from three people, after one of the teens motioned that they had a gun, police said. The robbery took place at Grand Army Plaza at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.
The teenagers were apprehended shortly afterward, and charges are now pending against the suspects, ages 17, 16, and 14, police said.
Later, around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, two 20-year-olds were standing within Central Park near West Drive and 62nd Street, when two people approached them and demanded a hat and jewelry, police said.
The culprits then fled with the items, and there have been no arrests as of Wednesday morning, police said.
There were no injuries in either incident.
The two robberies in Central Park come shortly after new data shows that there has been a 222-percent jump in the number of robberies in Central Park in 2024 so far, when compared to the same period last year. Additionally, the more than 30 robbery incidents this year have surpassed the total that the park saw in all of 2019, the year before the pandemic.
The NYPD has said they have upped their presence in the park in recent months.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
I can’t think of a better example of the need to go after the parents of teenager miscreants. There is no reason a 14, 16, or 17 year-old child should be outside at 1AM unsupervised. It falls entirely on the parents.
That kids that young have no moral qualms about robbing people is indicative of a deeper decay in our society.
It also falls on Voters to finally stop idealizing the policies of the Left and elect officials who will actually enforce the law to restore safety and order to our City.
Lols. The far right has done nothing about crime either. Stop spreading falsehoods.
Why is it that people go straight to the “far right”. Wanting more action on law enforcement doesn’t mean you’re right wing, it just means you are fed up with having to feel sorry for people that have no qualms about making you a victim because they are raised to feel they are entitled.
The commenter said nothing about the “the far right.” That’s you putting words in their mouth and creating a polarization where there is none. I vote Democrat and agree with the commenter.
Who are the GOP officials in NYC that have the power to do anything about crime? In Nassau County, executive Bruce Blakeman just signed legislation that imposes a ban on mask wearing to expose those committing crimes. The Democrats are opposed to the bill. Where have Hochul and Adams been on pushing for similar legislation for the City and State?
No PHYSICAL injuries. Trauma is never mentioned.
These are. historically ‘gateway crimes’. The DA not prosecuting them only tees up bigger crimes down the road. That’s a fact. It’s up to voters to get tough, because obviously the current DA won’t.
If it’s a “fact” would you please cite references? I’m not saying it’s not intuitive but…
Too bad we can’t round up the parents of these minors and prosecute them for dereliction of duty in raising children to be law abiding citizens? Of course the law would have to change to enable this but, because these kids know they will only get a slap on the wrist, we keep seeing more of these juvenile crimes. Maybe these kids would think twice if they knew their parents would be held liable for their illegal actions.
There are such laws already.
80% of crimes are done by repeat offenders. Please arrest and hold people. We need more cops, more camera, more drones.
Very sad to see this rash of crime continuing in our backyard…Central Park. Seems like the moral of this story is to not go into the park after sunset. Seems to be the time that most of these incidents are occurring.
Dogs off leash, illegal vendors, mopeds, pedicabs blocking pedestrian crossings, bikes going through red lights and hitting people, bikes on walking paths, muggings…. this is what happens when there is NO enforcement or accountability from our leadership..
Whenever I walk by the Central Park Police Precinct and see all the parked cars , I assume the office is overflowing with officers .
Is this precinct only responsible for the park? I would think they could establish more of a presence in the park to help deter crime.
great to hear the first group was caught and will be prosecuted. lets hope the same for the second. hopefully the victims got their stuff back.
We keep ignoring the gigantic elephant in the room. Can all this robberies somehow have something to do with all the migrant shelters in the area? I cant remember reading about so many robberies in the park. It might or might not have something to so with it, the media needs to ask those questions. It’s getting out of control.
I saw this on the Citizens App today and found the article online. I hadn’t heard until now that there were migrant children as young as 10-11 involved in the recent robberies in CP:
https://abc7ny.com/post/central-park-crime-mayor-eric-adams-considering-new-technology-help-mitigate-rise-robberies/15184520/
I run and bike in the park. These robberies are young American kids – not migrants – despite this being the popular rhetoric at the moment – most of them are trying to earn a living selling fruit and water in the subways etc. until proven otherwise by facts let’s stop this migrant baiting stuff
From the NYPD: An 11-year-old arrested in connection to a robbery in the subway Tuesday night was captured on surveillance video using credit cards from one of the Central Park victims, who is part of an eight-incident pattern.
Two of the three young suspects arrested in a robbery in Grand Army Plaza in Central Park early Tuesday are residing in city-run migrant shelters, one of them at the Row Hotel.
The groups attacking tourists in Times Square were also young migrants from shelters.
All you have to do is type migrant crime in the search bar if you want facts.
Here’s just one recent example: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn/homeless-man-accused-of-raping-woman-at-knifepoint-in-coney-island/
Edit: A common theme with the adults involved is ‘prior arrests.’
Not according to ABC News: https://abc7ny.com/post/central-park-crime-mayor-eric-adams-considering-new-technology-help-mitigate-rise-robberies/15184520/
14,16, 17 year olds on the street doing robberies at 1 AM. The parents should be locked up for endangering the welfare of a minor. That’s why we have these laws.
Now that the robberies are happening in the “rich” neighborhoods, maybe the charges won’t be dropped after the robbers are apprehended!
If there are migrant teenagers involved in crime please deport them with their families. This is absolutely inexcusable and should not be tolerated. We allowed them in feed cloth provide shelter and this shit happens. This has got to be a main issue for the next mayoral election.