Sept. 29, 2020 By Christian Murray
The police are looking for a man who punched a straphanger in the face as part of an attempted robbery inside the Forest Hills/71st Ave. station last week.
The suspect allegedly approached the victim, a 49-year-old man, at around 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23 displayed a knife and punched him. The alleged perpetrator then reached into the victim’s pants pocket.
A woman intervened and the suspect grabbed the victim’s wrist and demanded her cellphone. The suspect was unable to get any property and neither victim was seriously injured.
The suspect fled the scene on foot on the Manhattan-bound platform.
A little over two hours later, the suspect allegedly approached a 63-year-old man inside the Sutphin Boulevard station in Jamaica and reached into the pants pocket of the victim and took $549. The suspect then fled the station.
Police released a photo of the suspect that was taken just prior to the Forest Hills incident.
Anyone with information in regard to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.