Mugging tonight on 6th Avenue and Prospect Place

pamela13

Hi there,
There was an incident tonight. A young 20-something woman had her phone snatched out of her hand by three teens (guessing 13-15 yrs) The one with the phone ran up Prospect Place from 6th Avenue and across Flatbush. The woman was very upset. There were several people trying to help her. One of them chased the thieves up to Flatbush. One of the teens was wearing white down parka and was kind of short. Woman did not get her phone back. She said the kids stopped and asked her if she 'knew what time it was?' when she turned on her phone to check. They grabbed it out of her hand.

Ugh. What a crappy thing to happen during the holidays. Be careful out there all you cell phone users...

mpmav1

This freaks me out a bit. My wife was in Manhattan a few days ago, and some teens came up and ask her what time it was. On the second time they asked, out of no where, one of the kids kind-of slapped her (not hard) but with a huge pile of hand lotion in their hand... thus essentially slapping lotion all over her face.

Anyways, just strange that both involved the same scenario. Be safe.

shishkab

The classic "excuse me, what time is it?" is an oldie but a goodie. I always have my guard up when someone asks that question, isn't that sad?

Sorry to both ladies.

carnivore

shishkab wrote: The classic "excuse me, what time is it?" is an oldie but a goodie. I always have my guard up when someone asks that question, isn't that sad?

That may be the one appropriate time to bust out with the Dice.

"What, do I look like Big fuckin' Ben to you?"

5x5

I was walking up 2nd Street toward 5th Ave yesterday and a guy asked to borrow my phone to call the cops--three guys like the ones the OP described had just taken off with his phone. One of the kids was running up the street as he called--they went in three different directions. A police car was driving by, so we flagged it down, and the guy whose phone was stolen hopped in. No idea if the phone was recovered or the kids caught.

konakazi

You should NEVER run off after a thief, especially not over something as easily replaced as a cellphone.

You could be escalating the situation and find yourself at the end of a knife or a gun, no matter what age the perpetrator is.

Adrenaline is running high for everyone but it's important to keep your cool because you could make a wrong decision under duress that could cost you a lot more than the price of whatever material item you just lost.

When I was living on the Lower East Side, a young actress was held up by a couple of kids who demanded money. She replied "What are you going to do? Shoot us?!" and the kid fired, and ran away, costing the woman her life.

This isn't a matter of right or wrong as much as it is being smart, cool headed, and taking care of yourself.