A brutal broad-daylight robbery on Lenox Avenue left a 50-year-old man injured after a thief allegedly ripped away his cellphone and then used it as a weapon, according to police. The assault unfolded near the corner of Lenox Avenue and West 145th Street, where the suspect allegedly grabbed the victim’s phone and struck him, causing injuries to the back of his head, before bolting west toward Seventh Avenue. He remained at large as of the latest police bulletin.
According to NYPD Crime Stoppers’ Facebook post, the incident happened on May 2 at approximately 4:20 p.m. The post identifies the victim as a 50-year-old man and says the suspect snatched his cellphone and struck him in the face before fleeing. The department released surveillance stills and is asking anyone who recognizes the person in the images to come forward.
Where it happened and the precinct role
The intersection falls inside the NYPD’s 32nd Precinct, which covers northeastern Harlem and the Lenox Avenue business strip, according to the 32nd Precinct’s page. The alert arrives amid a flurry of similar cellphone-snatching and street-robbery bulletins across upper Manhattan this spring. Recent coverage of the trend noted a multi-person robbery pattern in nearby Washington Heights and other wanted bulletins from local precincts, as reported in a multi-person robbery pattern.
How to help
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), submit a tip through the online portal, or message the NYPD tips account on X. The Crime Stoppers website and the department’s NYPD Crime Stoppers account on X list the same contact options and note that tips that lead to an arrest and indictment may qualify for a cash reward.
