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Police Searching for Pepper Spray Mugger in Uptown Park Attacks

By Lindsay Armstrong | September 18, 2014 11:21am
 A woman was attacked shortly before 7 a.m. in Inwood Hill Park.
Pepper Spray Mugging
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INWOOD — A mugger who pepper sprayed a woman during an attack in Inwood Hill Park last week is being eyed in a similar robbery in which he sprayed a teen boy before stealing his cellphone near Fort Tryon Park, police said.

On Sept. 5, a 14-year-old boy was sitting on a bench on Riverside Drive just outside Fort Tryon Park about 8:45 a.m. when a man tried to take his cellphone, the NYPD said. When the boy resisted, the man pepper sprayed him in the face before taking the phone and fleeing, police said.

Three days later, a woman was attacked with pepper spray while walking her dog in Inwood Hill Park shortly before 7 a.m, police said. The incident occurred near the Isham Street entrance to the park, where the suspect snatched a chain from around her neck before fleeing into the park near the basketball courts, according to police.

In both attacks, police said they are looking for a man in his early 20s, standing about 5-foot-10 with a medium to stocky build and weighing about 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black tank top and long, basketball-style shorts, police added.

Police are checking for fingerprints or DNA evidence left on a pair of sunglasses found at one of the scenes that are believed to belong to the suspect.

Officers from the 34th Precinct warned uptown residents to use extra caution when walking in or near local parks in the morning, especially while alone.

"This new pattern has us concerned," said a police source. "All of the officers are aware of it and are addressing it."

Robberies in the 34th Precinct are down by almost 10 percent this year, with 145 so far in 2014 compared to 161 during the same time period last year.