68th Precinct
Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights
Got hate?
A racist graffiti vandal smeared a swastika on a van used by a Jewish home for disabled children on April 25.
Workers at the Hamaspik Assisted Living Facility on 61st Street between 12th and 13th avenues said that they found a swastika scrawled in white paint on the side of the van when they showed up early that morning. The vandalism occurred the night before, they said.
It was the second time the facility has been targeted by biased vandals, said Councilman David Greenfield (D-Boro Park), who is offering $1,000 for information on the vandal’s identity and whereabouts.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
OwPhone
A thief socked a 19-year-old straphanger during a botched iPhone robbery on April 20.
Police were told that the victim was exiting the Fort Hamilton Parkway station at 62nd Street at 3:35 pm when a 20-year-old male raced over and demanded he hand over the pricey Apple product in his hand.
The victim refused and the perp punched him in the face, leaving him with a cut lip — but he still would not relinquish his beloved phone, forcing the thief to run off empty handed.
Speedy spree
A fast-moving mugger robbed two women on April 20 and April 22, but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the cops.
Police said that during the first robbery the thief ran by a 47-year-old woman nearing the corner of Fourth Avenue and 77th Street at 11:30 pm and yanked a purse off the woman’s arm as he passed.
The 21-year-old suspect was nabbed two days later after he held-up a second woman on 76th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues — right in the same area.
In that incident, the perp followed a young woman from a nearby train station at around the same time and threatened to cut her throat.
He took $40 off his victim, but was arrested nearby after the young woman ran home and called 911, police said.
No escape
Fire escapes were a burglar’s best friend in Bay Ridge this week. Here’s the rundown:
• A thief crawled into a 68th Street apartment between Seventh and Eighth avenues on April 19, removing $500 and two rings. Police said that the thief entered the home through a kitchen window connected to a fire escape.
• A 56-year-old man told police that a perp entered his apartment on 77th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues sometime before 3:45 pm on April 20. The thief came in through a rear window accessible by a fire escape, removed a laptop computer and a $900 speaker system and exited through the front door.
• A creeper crawled into a Bay Ridge Avenue home on April 23, taking $240, a laptop computer and a digital camera. The third-floor tenant in the apartment, which is between Fourth and Fifth avenues, said that he returned home at 4 pm to find his rear window open.
— Thomas Tracy
