Enough With the Marauding Teenagers!
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our…
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our head mocking us provocatively to the clear delight of his jeering friends. Ever risk-averse, we quickly walked out into the middle of the street and starting dialing on our cell phone. With a few shouts, the pack continued down the block. We jogged back to a police car we had noticed parked back on Vanderbilt, told the cops what had happened and went home. The next day we heard that a woman had been mugged half an hour later a few blocks from there by a bunch of teenagers. We’ve heard of several similar instances in the area in recent weeks. And it’s not just Clinton Hill. A post on Brooklynian describes how a trio of teenage girls (19, 17 and 12) mugged five different people in Prospect Heights on Saturday night (and how only one of them decided to press charges) and an email we received yesterday told of a violent mugging of a twenty-something male by a group of boys at around 8:15 Monday night at Dekalb and South Oxford Street in Fort Greene (above). What can the community do to combat this activity? Obviously greater police presence would help, but given the paltry resources the NYPD devotes to this part of town, it’s going to take a lot of vigilance on the part of residents in terms of reporting even small incidents of harassment and pressing charges. And everyone should be aware that a lot of these muggings are happening during daylight hours, often between the end of school and dinner time, so it’s a good idea to minimize iPod and cell phone usage during those times. Please use this comment thread to document other similar incidents that you know about in recent months as well as to suggest ways to address the problem.
I have been hearing this with more frequency over the last year or so. As you mentioned, it seems to be the same/similar scenarios played out: Unsuspecting Brooklyn resident walking while chatting/listening to iPod/messing about on PDA completely unaware of their surroundings and the next thing they know they’re knocked to the ground and iPod/phone/PDA is snatched away. In the dozens of reports that I’ve read on various blogs, it’s almost always a few teens, they never have any weapons, and they rely on the element of surprise to sucker punch their victims and snatch the booty. This will keep occurring as long as people walk around with their heads in the clouds—and in many cases, don’t file a police report. It’s scary for all of us that walk these streets at all hours that we may get a beat down for our cell phone by a few 15-year olds. In order for it to cease, I don’t know—it’s a hyrda-headed issue; after-school activities, more foot patrols, better parenting, and as I mentioned before, more vigilant residents that pay attention and rarely allow themselves to get distracted by cells/iPod/etc…Jeez.
Unfortunately, these kids will probably only get the message when they do this to the wrong person and get the living sh*t beaten out of them. The police won’t do anything, and it will further serve to provoke them if they are brought in and let go immediately (which will happen).
Our particular incident wasn’t really that bad–and it’s the first even close call we’ve had in the three years we’ve lived in the neighborhood. It was a bit of a wake-up call though. Our mistake was letting our guard down by talking on our cell phone–something we would never have done if it were dark out. And for the record, we’ve been mugged only twice in a lifetime of living in NYC, and both times were on the Upper East Side!
Blame the victim?
Hey, Brownstoner, I’m sorry that happened to you. My beef is with the people who didn’t press charges. They really dropped the ball.
just more proof that people should have to pass a test to procreate.
9:38 gives stupid advice. One kid, sure. Confront and communicate. But a bunch of them, egging each other on? Maybe if you’re Arnold Schwartzenegger, but otherwise, Brownstoner’s swift-thinking actions were the way to go.
Face it, these kids are mean cowards. They ganged up on a WOMAN? I bet she was a small woman, older, maybe with a baby, too. Nasty. Avoid and deflect as much as possible.
Its because they closed the community centers.
As a once hoodlum teenager and now a productive adult all I can say is, don’t make yourself a victim. Most people that are harassed or robbed are paying enough attention to there surrounding and whats going on. The fact is if you let someone “creep up behind your head” you are not paying attention. Just because you have gentrified these neighborhoods it does not mean Brooklyn stopped being Brooklyn.