A robber on a moped in Harlem ripped a 96-year-old woman’s necklace off her neck and slammed her to the ground in a cold-blooded robbery, police said.
According to authorities, the suspect approached a man in his 90s at the intersection of West 127th Street and 8th Avenue around 5:25 p.m. on May 24 and stole his jewelry.
Police say the force of the pulling caused the elderly man to fall to the ground.
The victim was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition and treated for minor injuries, police said.
The robber, who had not been caught by Tuesday, fled on a black moped.
Video released by the NYPD late Monday shows the robber sitting on a motorcycle dressed all in black except for white sneakers with black stripes.
The broad daylight crime came just weeks before the NYPD announced it would fight back against an unprecedented surge in the number of scooters and mopeds being used as getaways for serious crimes, as reported in a front-page story by The Washington Post.
Of the seven most serious crimes, 790 have involved scooters, mopeds and motorcycles so far this year, compared with just 156 for the same period in 2022, according to NYPD statistics.
Last week, officers took to the streets, seizing 39 offending motorcycles and issuing summonses.
Anyone with information regarding the robberies of elderly Harlem residents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit information by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website. https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/X @NYPDTips.
