By Joy Bergmann
Two men wearing ski masks robbed a young man and woman inside Riverside Park at 108th Street around 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening, police officials said.
According to police reports, the victims were approached from behind as they were walking. One of the ski-masked men grabbed the male victim, 19, by the jacket and demanded money. The victim handed over $11. The female victim, 20, did not have any property to offer the muggers. The perpetrators did not display any weapons during the incident and fled northbound on foot.
The suspects are described as one Asian male and one Hispanic male, both in their 20s, according to police.
Truly frightening. But if you go into Riverside or Central Park at night, you are putting your life at risk, even if it is a small chance, but why take it, to jog? Walk the dog? Join a gym. Walk the dog around the block.
You are all delusional. How many people have been killed in Riverside Park in the past 5 years? You are at much greater risk of being killed if you ever cross a street on the Upper West Side. I can list at least 6 pedestrians and several bicycle riders killed in our neighborhood in the past 5 years. Enjoy your fantasy world.
Just another reason to make daylight savings time permanent so it doesn’t get dark at 4:30 pm in the winter
Yaaasssss! And also legalize pot.
NOOOOO!!! Can’t stand the smell.
That is sad to hear but the park area in that area is still sketchy. It is advisable not to enter any of the city parks after dark. The city is experiencing an economic meltdown. Many people have lost jobs, the stores are practically non-existent, and people under financial pressure will do anything. It is a good thing that all they did was to take $11 and leave them with their health and their lives.
One of the main reasons stores are vacant is the insane taxes in this city. The blame always gets put on ‘greedy landlords’. The wealthier taxpayers are exiting New York in droves to lower taxes states. The democrats need to realize this and contain costs instead of promising the world to constituents for votes.
The primary reason for tax increases is to pay the rapidly increasing pension and health care costs to city employees. If our leaders, past and present, weren’t promising so much to the unions, we would be in a much better financial position right now. City employees generally work very hard and are entitled to a fair wage but their benefits are out of line with most of the rest of the country, and the rest of us are paying for it.
Regarding this incident, I feel very bad for this couple, but as others have noted, walking in the park well after dark is generally not wise.
Or maybe they’re just bad people??
RE: “…The city is experiencing an economic meltdown. Many people have lost jobs, the stores are practically non-existent, ….”
Welcome back to 2019 from your time-travel trip to bad-old 1970’s NYC. Glad no one tried to steal the cassette-player from your unattended time-machine.
Really wish we could chat more, but have some shopping errands to run at the “practically non-existent” stores; and afterwards am planning to photograph some of those new high-rises building themselves since all the construction-guys have “lost jobs”.
I know that I am blaming the victims but walking through any NYC park in the winter at night is not a good idea. In other seasons there is at least some activity. Glad nobody was injured.
Be safe all.
My son’s comment: if the guys were wearing ski masks, how’d they know what race they were?
How does anyone know the suspect are Asian and Hispanic if they had masks on???
Awwww nah …. it’s just that NYC is SO MUCH safer under “Mayor” Duh Blasio’s policies regarding our collective safety. I used to be a liberal but after watching this putz in action no more.
There are stupid people in all sides. Do you really give up on an entire perspective as to what to do about the problems in the world because one guy is a pompous, self-serving, demagogue? I’m a liberal and I’ve been unhappy with DeBlasio pretty much from his inauguration- but that isn’t going to change my entire perspective on how the world should be governed.
This going to sound like victim blaming – and I guess maybe it is??? – but who still thinks it’s a good idea to walk through ANY park ANYWHERE after dark? I wouldn’t walk through the park in the suburb where I grew up after dark, not to mention Riverside or Central Park.
I know we all want to believe that NYC is super safe – and it is – but there are still shitty fucking people out there.
Let’s all make a pact not to go into a park after dark.
8PM is not unreasonably late to be walking in the park, so please — enough with the victim blaming on this one.
There’s a reason nobody else is in the park at that hour, except muggers. They’re waiting for people who lack common sense to happen by.
After dark is always a risk, in the summer 8pm is nothing but during January? It’s a scary park.
Back in the 1970’s we has a decoy unit in the NYPD until the liberal administration did away with it.Oh well stay on your guard folks and remember “BE CAREFUL OUT THERE”.
Are you sure it was the liberal administration? That sounds a bit concocted. It could just as easily have been the cost cutting administration, or the “crime has fallen substantially here so let’s deploy the resources elsewhere” administration. Things seem to be shifting, so perhaps it is time to reconsider – but I am curious when they were canceled, and learning what you base your reference to liberalism as the basis for canceling them.
I’ve never commented here before but, as others have pointed out, if the robbers were wearing ski masks, how could one even guess their ethnic backgrounds?
Now why didn’t someone else think of that? Oh wait…they did. And you read it and still made that comment?
Hispanic and Asian accent maybe?
An armed violent felony for $11. I hope they spent it well.
Sorry for this couple but its pretty commonly understood that you shouldn’t be in the park after dark, isn’t it?
Punks
I agree, if you value your safety, you need to stay out of the park at night, and during the day there are muggings there. Also, you need to stay off the sidewalks and streets too, there are muggings there too, not to mention cars trying to run you over. It’s really these people’s own faults for going outside, they should’ve know. Well, now they do, just stay inside and get everything from Amazon and Fresh Direct!