A couple of emails from the often interesting Park Slope Parents group concerning (possibly related) muggings on the F Train were forwarded to us. Here is the first one:
My nanny was mugged tonight around 6:30/6:45 on the F train just before the train left the 7th avenue station by a group of 6 teenage boys (she thinks about 15) . She recognized one of the boys and saw him at the Greenwood Playground today and had seen him other times before. She said the group got on the train at the 15th St station and then walked into her car (there were only 2 other elderly women in the car) and as the train doors were about to close the surrounded her, grabbed her music player and bag and then punched her. She was in shock and did not call the police and called me when she got home to her apartment in Queens.
She tried to call when the train came above ground at 4th Ave but I was putting my daughter to sleep and didn’t answer the phone. When she comes in tomorrow we are going to file the police report together (the 911 operator said that since the incident was earlier in the evening that it didn’t matter if we filed the report until the morning w the local precinct)…I wanted to know if anyone has had any incidents of this type in the area, what we should do to make sure we all feel safe with her on the subway (normally she leaves closer to 6:15 from the Fort Hamilton F stop) and with her being out in the neighborhood with our daughter since she has seen at least one of these boys before. I am also concerned that that she could have been targeted because these boys assumed she was carrying cash b/c they recognized her as a nanny and because of other incidents where Mexicans or other immigrants are targeted b/c it assumed they work for cash.
Here is a follow-up from someone else that came our way:
A friend had her iPhone taken out of her hand yesterday while riding F train at Smith and 9th, 2:45ish in the afternoon. The doors opened, a few boys grabbed it and ran. Sounds like the same group could have been riding the train all afternoon. We need to talk about what to do to avoid this/stop it. Ride in groups? Don’t have our electronics out on the train? Look everyone in the eye? Don’t ride in empty cars? Get more police to ride the trains?
More tales of F Train Woe to come?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kevin // May 1, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I was riding on the F train a few months ago to Manhattan around 4 PM, and some teenagers waiting at the door to get off at Smith & 9th punched me in the face and ran off.
Good times.
2 Ben // May 1, 2008 at 11:01 pm
It’s not necessarily a bad thing that she’s seen these kids before… if they try to pull anything again, she calls the cops and can ID them.
As a side note, I certainly don’t intend to blame the victim in this or any other similar incident, but you are asking for trouble if you’re holding a $500 device in your hand on the subway. Crime has been on the rise lately in NYC and Park Slope is not immune. A woman was robbed at gunpoint on 13th Street Sunday night.. by a group of teenagers. It’s as good a time as any to think about taking out those earbuds when you’re walking alone or riding in an empty subway car.