A pair of perps not only took a man’s phone on Feb. 16, but they threatened him into taking $100 out of his ATM before they let him go.
The 23-year-old’s troubles started as he was walking down Waverly Avenue between Myrtle and Willoughby avenues at around 6 pm, cellphone to his ear. Two men wearing black jackets approached him, one of them pulling out a knife and demanding, “Get off the f—king phone and give it to me now.”
Not wanting to question five inches of steel, the man complied, and complied again when the thug said, “Now give me your wallet.” Then he added: “The only way you’re going to get it back is to go to the ATM and give us some money.”
The victim proceeded to a nearby Myrtle Avenue bodega with the thugs in tow, withdrew five 20s and got his wallet back.
There was a camera in the bodega, but the footage has not been examined, cops said.
Clumsy crook
An ungraceful burglar botched an attempt to drill his way into an apartment building on Feb. 10, and had to abandon his project midway through.
The perp was apparently trying to drill holes in the front lock of a building on South Elliot Place near Lafayette Avenue around 9 pm when he accidentally hit the door buzzer. A still-awake resident got suspicious and came downstairs, but the small time crook realized he had made a rather bad mistake and ran off before he could be identified.
Valentine violence
Some people weren’t in a loving mood on Feb. 14, as two teens were brutally mugged — but one of the perps was caught by the cops.
The first incident occurred around 2:30 pm, when a 16-year-old heard someone yell his name as he got near the corner of North Portland and Park avenues. He turned to find a 6-foot, 190-pound older teen bearing down on him.
The big bully grabbed the boy’s backpack from his shoulders, and the victim ran up the steps of his apartment building, which was only a couple doors down. He didn’t make it up the steps before the perp caught up to him and punched and kicked him into the ground and tearing a watch off his wrist.
The backpack was itself worth $100, and it also contained a pair of diamond earrings (a Valentine’s gift?).
A few hours later, at 5 pm, a 17-year-old was walking on Lafayette Avenue near Fort Greene Place when he too heard someone call his name and say, “Come here.” Sensing something was wrong, he kept walking, but the perp wouldn’t take no for an answer and punched him in the face, knocking him to the sidewalk.
The mugger kicked him in the back while he lay on the ground before rifling through the teen’s pockets, taking a cellphone. This time, however, cops who canvassed the area found the 19-year-old anti-cupid nearby and put him in cuffs.
Bumbershoot bandit
An area criminal took a page from Batman’s nemesis the Penguin on Feb. 13, when he used an umbrella as a weapon against two teenagers who didn’t have any money for him to steal.
The two victims, a pair of 17- and 18-year-old boys, were walking on Fort Greene Place near DeKalb Avenue when a 5-foot-9 man with freckles came up to them and said, “Give me your money!”
They told him they didn’t have any, so the enraged — or make that deranged — man raised his umbrella and beat them on the head before running off. He didn’t take anything, and the teens walked to Brooklyn Hospital — only a block away — for treatment for their minor head injuries.
Plumber plundered
A burglar broke into a Cumberland Street business and stole over $1,200 in plumbing equipment on Feb. 11.
The 51-year-old handyman locked up his business — which was under renovation — at around 4 pm, and came back to the brownstone, near Greene Avenue, at 7:30 am to discover that $1,245 in tools were gone.
Car crimes
At least two cars were broken into and another one was stolen last week in Fort Greene.
The lone vehicle theft occurred on Feb. 16. The 27-year-old victim told cops that he’d parked his 2008 Ford van on Clermont Avenue near Willoughby Avenue around 5 pm, but when he returned just two and a half hours later, it had vanished.
Another car, a 2000 Ford sedan, was the target of a less-adept thief on Feb. 16. The 55-year-old owner parked it on Washington Avenue between Greene and Gates avenues around 6 pm. An hour later, the man came outside and noticed that his passenger-door lock was broken, the alarm system and radio had both been torn out, and the steering column was broken open.
Along with the damage to the vehicle, he lost a pair of prescription glasses and a $500 table saw that had been in the back seat.
More tools were stolen out of a construction-company-owned van on Feb. 14. The employee driving the vehicle parked it on Clinton Avenue near Gates Avenue around 11 am, left for lunch, and came back at 1 pm to find the back door had been broken open and an electric hammer, a chipping gun, and an electric saw — $3,350 in tools in all — had been stolen.
Teen thugs
A trio of violent young delinquents assaulted a man walking down South Oxford Street on Feb. 15 and stole the iPod from his ear.
The 23-year-old was near Hanson Place around 7 pm enjoying his digital music device when the three budding criminals ran up to him and shoved him against a car. They ran their hands through the surprised man’s pockets and came up with his iPod, yanking the earphones out of his ears and fleeing down Hanson Place.
The victim described the boys as all being around 15 years old.
