Two teen muggers being sought after they pinned a 12-year-old against a tree on 111th Street in Ozone Park and stole his Smartphone. Photo Courtesy of DCPI.
Police are looking for two teen muggers caught on video surveillance after they pinned a 12-year-old student up against a tree in Ozone Park and stole his smart phone in broad daylight last Thursday.
The boy was on his way home from school when he was accosted by two teens, approximately 16-years-old, presumably older students, who saw the boy’s Samsung Galaxy phone when he opened his book bag.
Deputy Inspector Thomas Pascale, Commanding Officer of the 106th Precinct says unfortunately, the “bad guys” in this case are still out there because of the typical fashion in with juvenile crime is reported.
“What generally happens is that kids get scared and they invariably go to their parents first before calling 911 to report the crime.” Pascale says that young kids don’t know what to do when they are victims, they get scared and it is natural for them to turn first to their parents. While the Inspector says he understands why it is so difficult to get kids to bypass their parents and come straight to the police, it does cost valuable time in the investigation.
Generally as soon as a crime such as this is reported, police take the victim on a canvass of the area in which the crime happened. If this is done directly after the crime occurs, the police obviously have a better chance to apprehend the thieves.
The incident occurred on 111th Street near Liberty Avenue around 4 p.m. when the tape shows the thieves come up behind him. The pair pinned the boy and demanded his cell phone that he surrendered to them. He was not hurt in the incident.
Police are asking for the public’s help in tracking the suspects one of whom was wearing a gray hoodie with dark pants and was carrying a gray backpack. The other male was described as wearing dark pants with a sweatshirt bearing the number 33 and carrying a black backpack.
“Juvenile crime is a high-priority in this precinct,” said Pascale “and it is taken very seriously. We will continue to pursue this and all other instances like it this very aggressively.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
