Battery Park robbery
An opportunistic thief targeted a female Australian tourist in Battery Park on May 25, police said.
The tourist, 31, who was staying at a hostel in Chelsea, told cops she was sitting on a bench in the park around 9 p.m. Sunday night, and had placed her Nikon camera beside her. Police say the robber snuck up from behind and pushed the victim off the bench and onto the ground, snatched the $2,000 camera — along with its accompanying $2,500 lens — and fled the scene.
In her statement to police the tourist added that, fortunately, she had traveler’s insurance on the pricey photography equipment.
B-ball court theft
Here’s a steal that won’t count on the score sheet — an unknown thief dug through the bag of a recreational basketball player while he was hooping it up at a Hudson River Park court on May 25, police said.
The man, 30, told cops he started shooting around at the Canal St. court at 1 p.m., and placed the bag — containing his cell phone, credit card, debit card, MetroCard and $20 in cash — off to the side. When he took a break a half hour later, he realized that, although the bag remained, all of the items he’d left inside were gone.
There were no witnesses, police said.
Open gym locker
A Downtown gym member learned the hard way that you always have to lock up your stuff, when his unprotected belongings were snatched by a locker room bandit on May 22.
The man, 36, told cops he was working out at New York Health & Racquet Club from around 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., and had left all of his property unlocked during that time. When he returned to the locker room, he found that his Audi A6 car keys and his credit and debit cards were gone.
The theft victim cancelled all his cards, according to police, but not before thief made two unauthorized charges, totaling around $350.
Hudson Square burglary
Two employees of a Hudson Square restaurant had a tough day at work on May 24, when their property was stolen from a storage area by a sneaky burglar, police said.
According to police, someone got into the employees-only area of the Westville restaurant at 333 Hudson St. through a side entrance on Charlton St., around 6 p.m. Among the belongings stolen from the two employees were a bicycle and a bag containing $230 and a credit card.
Video surveillance footage recovered from inside the building revealed a grainy image of the suspect, showing him to be male, but cops said they haven’t identified him yet.
— SAM SPOKONY
