Mugging on Joralemon Street

By on February 23, 2012 3:59 pm in crime

A reader let us know that this past Saturday at about 9:55 p.m. he was mugged while walking on Joralemon Street between Clinton and Sidney Place. Two men, who appeared to be in their twenties, one wearing a camouflage coat and the other a dark sweater and baseball cap, overtook him on the sidewalk, then turned, forced him against the wall of the Medical Arts Building, and demanded his wallet and cell phone or they would shoot him. He did not see a gun, but quickly gave them his possessions. He added:

I say all of that to encourage fellow readers to remain vigilant even when it isn’t too late at night. At the time I was mugged, I was texting on my iPhone and regret attracting the assailants’ attention. I also encourage readers to keep on the lookout for anyone who may be in the midst of a mugging – I wish that a pedestrian had realized what was taking place and contacted the police immediately. Instead, an onlooker approached me afterwards to ask, “Were you being mugged?” Indeed I was, as are most people who are being screamed at to hand over their wallet or else having a “f***ing bullet put in” them.

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  • Cat

    @Christie, couldn’t you still report this to the police? If nothing else perhaps we could get more police presence in the nabe. Sorry this happened to you–both the wheels and the attempted mugging.

  • Christie

    I probably should. I mentioned it to the officer that took the report for the stolen wheels (I had to call him to get a copy for the insurance.) I can’t remember now what they were wearing except one kid had a white belt than was around his hips and he was kinda of waddling like a duck to keep it and his pants from falling off. LOL.

    I walked the pooch up that way and noticed a cruiser sitting in front the medical arts building around 11 PM last night. Hopefully they will leave a patrol out there for a while. They also sat on State St for a couple nights after mine and the other car got hit…but I didn’t see them last night.

    I really like this neighborhood – I moved up here after nearly a decade and a half on the other side of Atlantic. But counter intuitively, there’s a lot more crime up here. I feel less safe. I guess i didn’t realize just how ghetto court street gets at night. I grew up in a small white trash town where I’m convinced everyone was nuts, retarded or on pills and I knew they all carried guns. I’m not particularly thrilled to be at the end of the funnel for bed sty and east new York, where the shoppers and moviegoers come on a Friday night packing a 9 millimeter in case they see a phone they want to steal. Random acts of violence in a city of 8 million people are one thing. But those few blocks of the south heights where I am seem to have NOT random crime patters.

  • Banville

    Stuart is right. Channel 3 Health Reporter sites a growing number of injuries from texting while walking including walking into traffic which I have seen many times. The “experts” warn against walking and texting and to be aware of ones surroundings at all times. The mugee unfortunately was pretty oblivious to his surroundings and the perfect candidate for a mugging. A town in Idaho recently inacted a law forbidding texting in the street. Maybe a bit extreme but identifies a growing problem as people walk about with their heads in their phones.

  • Jorale-man

    I’m convinced that NYC residents are still going through a phase with cell phones and texting, and that it will eventually lose its allure and people will go back to being normal pedestrians. I’ve traveled to enough other parts of the world to see that people don’t seem quite as glued to these things elsewhere. Perhaps it will take more events like this to change people’s attitudes.

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