88TH PRECINCT
Fort Greene–Clinton Hill
Thief attacks teen, steals phone
A thief attacked and robbed a teenager on the street on Sept. 25.
Cops said the victim was walking down Flatbush Avenue Extension near DeKalb Avenue just before 2 p.m. when the perp, whose identity is not known, approached and punched him in the face. The perp then grabbed the victim’s Motorola G Play cell phone and took off. The incident left the victim in some pain, police said, but he refused medical attention on the scene.
Sneak swipes worker’s bag, wallet
Someone swiped a man’s backpack while he worked in front of a Lafayette Avenue church on Sept. 25.
The victim told police he put his backpack down in front of the Apostolic Faith Mission near Washington Avenue at about 10 a.m. while he worked nearby. At some point that morning, someone managed to grab the bag and take off with it undetected. After some searching, the victim found that the thief had abandoned his bag nearby — but had first taken his wallet, which contained his driver’s license, green card, and debit card. Police said the victim immediately deactivated his debit card and walked to the precinct to report the crime.
Ride-share passenger swindles driver
A ride-share driver was swindled by a passenger on Sept. 27.
According to police, the victim, a Lyft driver, picked up a man in Newark, New Jersey and drove him to the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn. As they approached, the passenger asked if he could use the driver’s phone to change the music. Rather than just changing tracks, though, the passenger opened the driver’s PayPal app and sent himself $8,000. By the time the driver realized something was amiss, it was too late, and PayPal told him the charge could not be disputed.
E-bike swiped from delivery worker
A delivery worker’s e-bike was stolen mid-shift on Oct. 2.
The victim said he parked his 2025 Zhilo e-bike near the corner of Clermont Avenue and Fulton Street at 2 p.m. while he made a delivery across the street. When he returned a few minutes later, the bike was gone. Though the victim was able to track the e-bike with an Apple AirTag for a while, it eventually disappeared from the radar, and he wasn not able to connect to it with his phone.
