84th Precinct
Brooklyn Heights–DUMBO–Boerum Hill–Downtown
Cops and robbers
Police arrested a man who they say tried to pass himself off as a cop returning a smartphone he stole on Montague Street on Aug. 14.
The victim told police that she was leaving her job near the corner of Montague Street and Court Street when a man approached her, trying to talk to her several times before snatching her smartphone. The suspect then tried to strike the victim, but was stopped when a bystander yelled at him, causing him to flee with the phone, cops say.
The victim went to police, and called her own phone, and the alleged crook answered, saying he was a police officer who rescued the phone from the thief, but when the victim arrived with the real police in tow, she immediately recognized the goon and officers promptly arrested him, according to the police report.
Familial theft
Two louts robbed a man outside a Smith Street convenience store on Aug. 15, and fled in a getaway car driven by the victim’s cousin, cops say.
The victim told police that as he was exiting the store near Warren Street around 10 pm, two men approached him, one with something that looked like a gun under his clothes.
The victim surrendered his phone to the miscreants, only to see the pair flee in a blue Jeep driven by his own cousin, according to a report.
— Harry MacCormack
