Two men on parole committed six robberies at gunpoint in a few hours early this morning in four of New York City’s five boroughs, and when they were arrested one of them boasted that he would be free in no time thanks to the state’s controversial penal reform laws.
“I’ll be out on bail in 24 hours,” one of them said when he was arrested, according to police and a video of the raid released by Fox News. Both suspects were arrested when they crashed in The Bronx following the string of robberies in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. No one was injured in the robberies or the collision.
The two unidentified 24- and 34-year-old men were already on parole and had been arrested just two weeks ago on drug charges. NYPD said they drove around in a white Toyota Sienna minivan this morning and stole personal property and/or money from their victims.
“I’ll be out on bail in 24 hours,” one of them said on camera as he was led to an unmarked police car. “I’ll be out on bail.”
The robbers began their spree just before 1 a.m. on Alstyne Avenue near 104th Street in Corona (Queens), where they stole a necklace from the first victim, police said.
Minutes later, authorities said they went to the next crime scene – Queens Boulevard near 65th Street in Sunnyside – where they stole a wallet with an unspecified amount of cash and a cell phone.
They moved to Brooklyn about 40 minutes later, where they robbed someone of an unspecified amount of cash at North 11th Street and Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg. Authorities said they returned to Queens just 15 minutes later, stealing credit cards and cash during their next heist at 72nd Street and Broadway in Jackson Heights.
They also struck in Manhattan, where the first robbery was committed around 2:40 a.m., stealing from a food truck worker parked outside NYU’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library on Washington Square South near LaGuardia Place.
They then drove to the city’s north end, where they committed their last robbery on Seaman Avenue near West 204th Street in Inwood at around 3:10 a.m. There, they took a person’s purse.
The streak ended when they crashed their Toyota at Cedar Avenue and West 179th Street in University Heights in The Bronx, where NYPD Aviation spotted them at around 4 a.m. The younger of the two attempted to flee but was apprehended.
Charges against both suspects were pending and were not immediately identified. One of them has 10 prior arrests, and the other has nine, the New York Post detailed.