Crime Watch

BY MARIA ROCHA-BUSCHEL
Elderly man scammed
An 81-year-old man reported that he was scammed by two unknown men while he was driving near 430 West 25th Street on Sept. 17 at 2:20 p.m. He told police that he was driving west on West 25th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues and was pulling into a parking spot when two men approached his car and told him that the vehicle was smoking. He said that they then pretended to fix his car and then told him to pay them $400 for their labor. The victim went to an ATM and gave them cash but afterwards he realized that his car had not been smoking. He reported the incident last Friday.
Fight on West 41st Street
A 56-year-old woman reported that she felt threatened by a man she didn’t know behind 440 West 41st St. on Sept. 16 at 6:55 p.m. The victim told police that she was feeding birds nearby when she got into an argument with the 25-year-old man. The suspect then said, “I will cut you,” and displayed a knife. The victim said that she started recording the suspect with her phone but he knocked it out of her hands, breaking it. No arrests have been made.
Man arrested for breaking into car
Police arrested a 24-year-old man for criminal mischief opposite 436 West 27th St. Sept. 25 at 3 a.m. While on patrol, police saw the suspect break the windshield of a nearby car by throwing a brick into it, then proceeding to smash the windshield with his hands. Police said that the suspect sustained injuries to his hands from the shattered glass.
Beer stolen from 7-Eleven
An employee at 7-Eleven inside 368 Eighth Ave. told police that two men shoplifted beer from the store Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. The employee told police that the men went into the store, grabbed three cases of Heineken and walked out without paying. The employee said that the incident was caught on video surveillance but no arrests have been made.