Julien de Flandres, a 37-year-old software developer from the Upper West Side, was chatting with a friend on a bench near Wollman Rink in Central Park around 10:30 pm on August 1 when he was robbed at knifepoint by a mob of as many as 20 young people, including children as young as eight..
Here is his story, as told to Washington Post reporter Georgia Worrell:
We were sitting across from each other on a bench, talking, I had some bags with me, I had just had dinner so I had some leftovers, and we just sat there talking for a while.
Even though it was dark, I didn’t think to pay any attention to my surroundings, and there were plenty of people and security cameras around so it didn’t occur to me that it was a dangerous place.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a group of people coming. There were so many people walking around that I didn’t realize they were all one group and didn’t pay them much attention.
This little kid with them, I think he was about 8, maybe 9 at most, came over and came straight up to us, and when we got to the bench he started mobbing us and bossing us around, and I said, “Oh, can I help you with something?”
At that moment, all the kids in the group surrounded us and started grabbing our bags.
At that point I realized, “Oh, they’re trying to take our stuff.” They were trying to take our phones out of our pockets and stuff.
As I tried to push their hands out of my pockets, one of the little kids, maybe 10 years old, came up behind me and snatched my wallet from my back pocket.
I started to chase him but the other kids started running towards me and some of them pulled out knives.
I held up my hands and said, “Oh, sure, it’s yours, take it.” I was absolutely not going to resist when the knife was pulled out.
Half the group started walking north while the other half stayed behind and pushed me back violently.
After that, I called 911. And then, maybe three or four minutes later, one of the kids came back on his bike. He handed me his wallet and said, “I’m really sorry.” He looked to be about 14 or 15 years old.
Despite what had happened, he seemed so sincere that I almost felt sorry for him.
Within 20 minutes, charges started coming in on both my credit card, which had been stolen, and my girlfriend’s credit card, which was in my wallet, notifying me that they had spent $70, $80 at McDonald’s.
I was surprised that this would happen in Central Park. It was dark outside, but the park was well lit and there were other people around.
The fact that it started with 8-year-olds felt almost dystopian — I mean, it’s one thing that something like this happens, but the fact that they’re elementary school kids is another.
