A man was hospitalized after being beaten on a Brooklyn street, and police believe that his attacker pretended the victim had stolen his phone in order to confront and rob him.
The incident occurred on Saturday, October 15th, at 5:40 a.m. According to the NYPD, the victim, a 56-year-old man, was followed from the Kingston Avenue and Throop Avenue train station to front of 1442 Fulton Street. There police say the suspect "began assaulting the victim, forcibly removed his bag and went through his pockets."
NBC New York reports that the suspect had woken him on the train, "The suspect said his phone was missing and accused the man of stealing it."
The mugger punched and shoved the victim, causing him to land on a fire hydrant that left him with a "deep laceration to his face," police say.
Investigators also found the assailant's phone at the scene. The suspect, who is wanted for attempted robbery, is described (photos above) as being 20-25 years old, 5'7" to 5'9" tall and 160 pounds; he was last seen wearing a red shirt, a black jacket, a black jeans, black sneakers, and black baseball cap.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident 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 at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
