Cops bust Central Park robbers in 10 minutes
A TEENAGE couple robbed a man at gunpoint in Central Park, sprinting off with his wallet and iPhone until they were nabbed by cops and technology.
The 15-year-old boy and his partner, a 14-year-old girl, slipped up behind the 37-year-old victim, who was walking home listening to headphones in the park near 96th St. and the East Drive about 7:40 p.m. Thursday, cops said.
The boy, who was armed and wearing a ski-mask, shoved the victim and demanded cash. The victim, according to police, couldn’t initially understand because the boy’s face was covered.
“Give me all your stuff,” the boy said, shifting his mask. “Your wallet and phone! Where’s your cash?”
When the boy lifted his shirt to show a gun, the victim handed over his wallet and phone.
The robbers ran off toward the west side of the park.
A passerby let the victim use his phone to call 911. The dispatcher typed in the info and sent out an alert with the victim’s location. The alert landed on the phone of the precinct’s anti-crime team and they rushed to the scene.
They arrived even before the dispatcher had transmitted the job over the radio — saving a crucial five minutes in response time, according to Capt. Peter Andrea, commander of the Central Park Precinct.
The victim joined cops to canvass the area for the teens. He activated the Find My iPhone app on a cop’s phone and the officers used it to pinpoint the location of the phone.
Cops drove to W. 96th St. and West Drive.
“They saw a person fitting the description of the guy with the firearm,” Andrea said. “As he was about to turn and run, numerous units came up from behind him and he decided not to run.”
Once the robbers were in custody, the police called the victim’s phone and it started ringing in the boy’s pocket.
They found the gun the boy flashed, an unloaded Lorcin .380 semiautomatic pistol, and the wallet in a bag the girl was carrying. She claimed the bag wasn’t hers.
Andrea said the technology was crucial in the speed of the arrest, just 10 or so minutes after the robbery.
“It enabled us to make an immediate scoop up of the victim,” he said. “He (the victim) was still on the phone with the 911 operator when the cops got there.”
The teens are both from the Bronx. The boy will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, while the girl will appear in family court. Their names were not immediately released.
The victim, who asked not to be named, said the police were so fast the whole thing was over in 10 minutes.
“It was crazy. The cops were perfect all the way through,” he said.
Andrea said the robbery is an extreme rarity in the park.
“It’s a very, very safe park,” he said.
Crime in the Central Park precinct is down 12% this year, with 58 crimes through Sunday compared to 66 during the same period in 2016.
Robberies are down — with 12 cases compared to 17 during the same period last year.