Crime Watch

Head Down, Phone Gone On Monday, Oct. 8, at around 6:30 p.m., a local 21-year-old was employing the fancy mapping features of her new iPhone 5 when she was caught unaware. The woman was intently studying the map as she walked toward the northwest corner of Third Avenue and East 95th Street when an unknown young man approached her, reached over her shoulder and snagged the $600 phone, running off before she could orient herself. Dangerous Doctor's Office A 42-year-old man was waiting to see his dentist on East 95th Street on Oct. 8 when his girlfriend stormed into the office. She accused him of not telling her about his appointment, and the two got into an argument. When he tried to get up and move away from her, the girlfriend put her hands in his face and then struck him in the head with her umbrella twice, causing severe swelling under his left eye. The 28-year-old fled the scene before police arrived and is now wanted for assault. Too Good to Be True A tag-team scam singled out a 63-year-old woman on the street near East 64th Street and Third Avenue on Oct. 8 at about 2:20 p.m. A man approached the woman to ask where the Johnson & Johnson law firm was located. Then a second man walked up to helpfully inform him that the law firm had moved. Suddenly, the first guy revealed that he had in his possession a winning lottery ticket in the amount of $500,000, but lacked the ability to cash it in himself because he isn't a citizen. The second man suggested that he cash it on his behalf and that the newly formed trio split the proceeds. The men asked the woman to pony up $5,000 cash as a "show of good faith" in splitting the ticket with them, which she promptly withdrew from a nearby bank branch and handed over. The two told her to wait on the street while they supposedly cashed the half-million-dollar ticket and returned to hand off a sack, stuffed not with money but with pieces of paper, before scurrying off, at which point she finally caught on that she had been had. Directions Dispute A 36-year-old man ended his night out in police custody following an ill-fated cab ride on a recent Sunday morning. The man hopped into the taxi at around 3 a.m. on East Seventh Street and Avenue A and instructed the driver to bring him home to East 88th Street and Third Avenue. When the cab pulled up, however, the man became irate, insisting that he had tried to give the driver faster directions that he had failed to heed. The man paid his fare, but then got out of the car, walked to the driver's side window and punched the driver in the face several times, causing a laceration and bruising. Police arrested him for assault upon arrival at the scene.