A 39-year-old woman was attacked from behind by a man on a motorized scooter as she walked in front of 2649 Decatur Avenue in Bedford Park on Sunday, August 2, with the rider trying to rip a necklace from around her neck before speeding away empty-handed. The attempted grab left the victim with minor injuries, though she refused medical attention at the scene.
According to NYPD Crimestoppers, the incident happened at approximately 3:50 p.m. when the unidentified suspect approached the woman from behind on the scooter, attempted to snatch her necklace, and then fled to parts unknown. No arrest has been made, and the suspect remains unidentified. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visit crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or send a direct message to @NYPDTips on X; all tips are kept strictly confidential.
A Familiar Pattern on Bronx Sidewalks
This is not an isolated tactic in the borough. Just weeks earlier, on July 23, a suspect on a motorized scooter approached a 72-year-old woman in broad daylight in front of 1256 Croes Avenue and forcibly snatched a chain and rosary beads from her neck before fleeing before officers arrived, as previously reported by Hoodline. Bronx detectives have flagged scooter- and moped-mounted chain snatching as an ongoing tactical concern, pointing to an October 2024 pattern in the nearby 49th Precinct in which a scooter suspect dragged a 31-year-old woman by her neck chain, according to the Norwood News.
The Decatur Avenue block sits within the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 52nd Precinct, headquartered at 3016 Webster Avenue, which covers Bedford Park, Fordham, Kingsbridge, and Norwood. The street itself is a residential corridor near the U.S. Postal Service's Van Cott Station and the B, D, and 4 subway lines, an area typically dense with pedestrian traffic in the mid-afternoon hours, per background compiled from Wikipedia's entry on the neighborhood.
Robberies Rose Locally Even as Bronx Crime Fell Citywide
The attempted snatching arrives amid a mixed public safety picture for the borough. Major crime across New York City dropped 12.7 percent in July compared to the same month last year, with the Bronx leading all five boroughs in reductions at 19 percent, according to figures released by Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch and cited by the City of New York. Yet the 52nd Precinct itself has bucked that citywide trend at the street-robbery level, with reported robberies climbing nearly 9 percent year-over-year earlier in 2026 and at least 124 cases recorded, as News 12 The Bronx reported.
That local uptick has coincided with a broader citywide reckoning over unregulated motorized two-wheelers. New York City officials reported in August that e-bike collisions rose 31.7 percent year-over-year, alongside nearly 800 stand-up scooter collisions and more than 500 e-bike collisions logged citywide so far in 2026, Patch reported, noting that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council have launched new enforcement pushes this month.
Regulation Gaps Let Scooters Stay on the Street
Under New York State vehicle rules, scooters or mopeds capable of exceeding 20 mph are classified as limited-use motorcycles requiring DMV registration, license plates, and a valid driver's license to operate legally on public roads, according to TopRiding. Riding an unregistered scooter, or operating one on a sidewalk, can subject the vehicle to immediate NYPD impoundment.
Enforcement, however, has proven uneven. An NYPD crackdown earlier this year inspected 74 local brick-and-mortar retailers selling non-compliant electric two-wheelers, and police officials found that while store compliance improved after the outreach, illegal scooters remain widely available through unmonitored online sales, Streetsblog New York City reported. That gap helps explain how suspects continue to acquire the vehicles used in quick-strike robberies like the one on Decatur Avenue.
The Decatur Avenue case is the latest in a string of street and transit robberies targeting women that Hoodline has tracked in and around Bedford Park this year, including a purse-snatching on a Bronx D train platform and a shooting during a trash run on a nearby block. No suspect description has been released, and the motive for the attempted snatching remains unknown. Investigators have not said whether the case is connected to the July 23 Croes Avenue robbery or other recent scooter-involved incidents in the borough.
