Police Blotter: A Man Snatches an E-Reader and Punches Victim in the Eye

The following information was supplied by the 78th Precinct of the NYPD. It does not indicate a conviction.

An E-Reader Snatching on a Train

A quick-handed crook snatched an e-reader from a straphanger on an F train and punched the victim in the face on Feb. 16. 

The victim told police that he was riding on a northbound F train at around 7:45 p.m. and when the train pulled into the 7th Ave-9 Street station, a 6-foot thief grabbed the e-reader. The victim chased the man on to the platform and the two men struggled. The e-reader fell to the ground and then the crook punch the man in the left eye and ran away, leaving the Sony e-book behind.

A Hired Heist

A contractor hired to work on a Fifth Street home stole expensive jewelry, electronics and perfume from the owner’s dresser on Feb. 14.

The victim told police that her father saw the man she hired riffling through her dresser in her house, between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West, sometime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

When the woman came back home she noticed that her Banana Republic perfume, Ralph Lauren cologne, diamond earrings, a heart diamond necklace, a gemstone necklace, a Canon Powershot camera, a Wii console and four controllers, a BlackBerry and a pair of iTouch gloves were missing. 

A Wannabe Crook Caught

A would-be thief grabbed an iPhone out of a man’s hands while he was standing in front of the Tea Lounge on Union Street but was stopped by passerby on Seventh Avenue who recovered the cellphone on Feb. 15.

The victim was standing in front of the cafe, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, at around 4:40 p.m. when a man wearing a baseball hat, a blue hooded ski jacket and dark blue jeans snatched the iPhone out of his hand and ran towards Seventh Avenue. However, a good Samaritan stopped the thief, took the cellphone and returned it to the rightful owner.  

A Purse in a Pizzeria Gone!

A swift crook snatched a woman’s pocketbook off a table at a Third Avenue pizzeria on Feb. 17.

The victim said she was eating at Pizza Cotta-Bene between 3:10 and 4:10 p.m., put her pocketbook on the table and stepped away for “one minute”. But that was enough time for the lifter to snatch her purse, with five credit cards, two debit cards and a Metro card inside a brown leather wallet from the pizza joint near Carroll Street.