PUNCH CAR
Cops caught a 25-year-old man last Sunday after he allegedly punched a livery cab driver during an argument in the Financial District and then fled in the victim’s car — only to crash it an hour later, according to a report.
The Brooklyn man pulled over the 60-year-old cabbie at the corner of Vesey and West Sts. around noon on Sunday June 5 and hopped in the driver’s $20,000 black Lincoln after punching him to the ground, police say.
About an hour later, the alleged perp was arrested after he rear-ended another car at W. Third St. and LaGuardia Pl with the stolen cab and then tried to flee the scene, cops say.
His charges include robbery, grand larceny, assault, leaving the scene of an accident, false impersonation and driving without a license, and he is currently being held on $5,000 bail.
IPHONE CAPER
A man dressed as an Apple Store employee stole 19 iPhones from the tech company’s store in Soho last week, cops say.
According to a police report, the thief “dressed similarly” to store employees, who wear blue T-shirts imprinted with the Apple logo, and walked right into the shop’s second-floor repair area around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1.
The man grabbed 19 iPhones from a drawer, worth a total of $16,130, and handed them over to an accomplice, who hid the loot under his shirt before he walked out of the store, police say.
FILCHING WITH FLATTERY
A young teen swiped an iPhone right through an open restaurant window in Tribeca, police say.
The victim told police that the girl, estimated to be 13 years old, was part of a group of around 20 men and women who approached her as she was sitting by an open window at Mudville 9, a Chambers St. bar, at around 11:45 p.m. on Friday, June 3.
Before grabbing the $900 phone, the girl told the 19-year-old victim and her friend, “You girls are sexy,” according to a police report.
STICK-UP GONE WRONG
Three thieves threatening to rob and stab a 20-year-old Bronx man in Soho instead found themselves in a police lineup last week, cops say.
The three wannabe-robbers approached the victim around 7:30 p.m. last Monday, May 30, as he was standing on Greene St., according to a report.
After they asked him what phone he had, one of them told him, “Give me your phone or I’ll poke you,” but the man pushed one of the attackers away and fled, police say.
They chased him all the way into a nearby store, where he called 911, cops say.
The victim later picked all three out of a photo lineup, although a police report noted that only one — a 19-year-old man — had been arrested as of June 7.
LUSHER BUSTED
A 24-year-old man was nabbed targeting sleeping passengers on the subway, police say.
The thief — a so-called “lush worker” who empties the pockets of sleeping subway riders — was caught stealing a $600 iPhone and $20 in cash from a Queens man sleeping on the northbound E train platform at the Canal St. stop at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday June 2, according to police.
He was promptly arrested, but not before flailing his arms and gripping a railing to avoid being handcuffed, according to a report.
