Not even little children on scooters are secure from the Massive Apple’s crime wave — as a 6-year-old Brooklyn boy came upon when his trip was swiped by a masked bandit, cops mentioned Friday.
The heartless robber focused the tyke whereas the kid was zipping round close to his dwelling in Borough Park about 10 p.m. Wednesday, police mentioned.
The e-scooter belonged to the little boy’s special-needs brother, their father informed The Submit.
“There is no such thing as a humanity,’’ mentioned neighbor Ruhul Amin, a cabbie. “I don’t know who would do that. He’s a sick man.’’
The thief had walked as much as the little boy in entrance of 3528 twelfth Ave. and requested, “The place is your mommy?” earlier than pushing the kid off the scooter, cops mentioned.
The punk then grabbed the scooter and took off, police mentioned.
The shaken little boy ran to an older sister who was close by and informed her what occurred, and their dad and mom later known as the NYPD.
A neighborhood surveillance digital camera captured the boy driving the scooter earlier than the heist — and the unidentified robber on it afterward, the dad mentioned. Each the boy and his sister recognized the criminal within the video, he mentioned.
“On the police station, he was a little bit afraid,” the daddy mentioned of his son. “We acquired him to say a couple of phrases.”
The boy, a second-grader who turns 7 subsequent week, is so traumatized about what occurred that he hasn’t been to high school since and is petrified of ever driving a scooter once more, his dad added.
“We’re engaged on it,” the daddy mentioned. “We’re going to have remedy for him, for positive. We’re not going to let him fall behind.”
The daddy — a rabbinical scholar with 15 children — mentioned he purchased the $500 scooter three weeks in the past for one of many boy’s older brothers, who has particular wants and is attending summer time camp.
“When he comes again, I’ve to switch it,” the dad mentioned.
However the father mentioned he didn’t come up with the money for to purchase one other scooter.
“I want somebody might assist me.. … My youngster wants it. That’s what he makes use of to get round,’’ the dad mentioned.
The daddy appealed to the thief to “carry it again, no questions requested.
“Flip the scooter again, I’m not going to press any costs,” he mentioned.
“But when the police catches you, it’s going to be worse.”
The suspect is believed to be in his late 20s and was sporting a darkish grey shirt, mild grey shorts and grey sneakers on the time of the theft, cops mentioned.
The disturbing incident comes amid a terrifying uptick in crime within the metropolis.
The scooter theft occurred simply weeks after one other robber snatched a gold chain from across the neck of a 4-year-old boy inside a Washington Heights house complicated.
The tiny sufferer, who was together with his grandmother on the time, was left with a minor reduce on his neck from the June 12 theft.
Further reporting by Craig McCarthy
