Training day
Thieves took over the Hewes Street J-train station on Aug. 25, attempting to rob two straphangers before finally getting something off a third. Here are the horrifying details:
• Two knife-wielding thieves attempted to mug a pair of 15-year-olds as they waited for the train at around 3:15 pm by demanding that the youngsters empty their pockets. One of the teens only had $2, but the other was carrying a Playstation Portable.
When the teen refused to fork over the video game console, the thugs punched him in the face, but he was able to jump on the train before they could grab the Sony product.
• One of the same hoodlums tried to rip a gold chain from a 45-year-old woman’s neck as she waited for a train at the same station just five minutes later, but he again left empty-handed.
The crook tugged on the necklace, scratching his victim’s neck, but he was unable to remove the chain and fled down the staircase onto the corner of Broadway and Hewes Street. • Finally, at around 3:30 pm, a thug yanked a gold chain from a 53-year-old straphanger’s neck as she climbed the stairs towards the Manhattan-bound platform of the station.
The crook snagged the necklace — which cops valued at $500 — then sprinted out of the station.
There were two unrelated — except for the train line! — crimes last week:
• Cops caught a foul-smelling crook that threatened to shoot a 21-year-old J-train rider if he didn’t fork over his iPhone on Aug. 28.
The alleged robber — whom cops say reeked of body odor — confronted his victim as the train rolled into the Marcy Avenue station at around 12:45 am.
With one hand inside a paper bag, the stinky suspect gestured as though he had a gun.
“Give it to me or I’ll pop you,” he said.
The victim obliged and the malodorous mugger got off the train, but police nabbed a suspect later that day.
• A crook robbed a 13-year-old of his Sidekick cellphone as he sat on the platform of the Lorimer Street station on Aug. 28.
The perp snatched the fancy phone — which cops valued at $300 — at around 1 pm, then dashed from the station, which is at the corner of Broadway and Lorimer Street.
Stealing music
A law-breaking rocker stole a $2,000 guitar from a Wythe Avenue music shop on Aug. 26.
The thieving musician browsed the store for about 10 minutes before he grabbed the Rickenbacker ax at around 2:45 pm. Once the crook fled from the shop, which is near the corner of South First Street, he jumped into surprisingly un-rock-and-roll getaway car — a white Volkswagen.
Billyburg slugger
A vicious thug with a baseball bat hospitalized a 30-year-old man as he walked home from an Aug. 25 party.
The bat-wielding baddie attacked the victim at corner of Waterbury and Maujer streets at around 2:35 am, bloodying his face, pummeling his rib cage and legs, and sending the bruised victim to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
Masked mug!
A cloaked crook who claimed he had a gun robbed a 17-year-old girl of her necklace and earrings on Aug. 26.
The vicious villain — who donned a black ski mask during the mugging — punched the victim in the eye after demanding her money at the corner of Manhattan Avenue and Varet Street at around 12:10 am.
The teenaged victim forked over her gold name-plate chain and earrings and the attacker fled.
Obvious motive
A cash-craving crook offered a Driggs Avenue woman a simple explanation of why he broke into her apartment on Aug. 26: money.
The robber climbed into the apartment, which is between South Second and South Third streets, through a rear window around 9:40 pm while the 32-year-old resident was at a store.
When the resident returned 10 minutes later, she found the burglar standing there.
“I just need some money,” the crook told her, before dashing away with a diamond necklace and two pearl necklaces, which are worth about $9,000 altogether.
Mail-boxing
A punching-throwing perp slugged a Boerum Street woman in the face and stole her handbag as she retrieved her mail on Aug. 27.
The pugilist struck the woman at around 10 pm as she opened her mailbox, knocking her glasses from her face.
Dazed from the blow, the thug snatched her Old Navy purse, which contained a credit card, passport, iPod, Coach wallet and $20, and fled from the building, which is between Manhattan and Graham avenues.
Got an iPod?
Three thugs smacked a 23-year-old man in the jaw and snatched his iPod, cellphone and cash on Aug. 26.
“What you got?” one of the thugs asked when he confronted the victim at the corner of South Third and Berry streets at around 12:35 am.
But the crooks slugged the victim and grabbed his valuables before he could respond.
Apple picking
A crook broke into a Roebling Street apartment during the day on Aug. 26 and snatched two Apple laptops.
The thief got into the apartment through the kitchen window between 9:30 am and 4 pm, and snatched both computers before fleeing from the apartment, which is between South First and South Second streets.
— Ben Muessig
