Cops need the public’s help in finding two armed men responsible for an extensive robbery pattern in which they attacked food deliverymen and stole their electric bikes across Manhattan and the Bronx.
Law enforcement sources reported that the perpetrators robbed deliverymen 22 times in the two boroughs between Sept. 13 and Dec. 3, 2019.
In each case, authorities said, the two suspects — who rode electric bikes of their own — trailed food deliverymen riding electric bikes en route to a delivery. The crooks then use a knife or pepper spray to attack the victims before forcibly taking the victims’ bikes and fleeing the scene.
On Wednesday, police released video of one of the robbery incidents, which occurred at 8:50 p.m. on Dec. 3 as a 24-year-old male delivery worker finished a job in the vicinity of West 46th Street and First Avenue in Midtown.
According to police, one of the suspects, while riding an electric bike, asked him for directions to distract his attention. When the deliveryman unlocked his bike, cops said, a second perpetrator threw him to the ground, sprayed an unknown chemical substance.
Both men then fled the scene with the deliveryman’s e-bike in an unknown direction.
The victim, as well as the others attacked in the pattern, did not suffer serious injuries.
Anyone with information in regard to the identities of the males or these incidents 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 their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
