Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Chinatown Robbers Who Took Girl's Cellphone Chased Down By Off-Duty Officer

By Ed Komenda | May 26, 2016 11:09am
 The crime happened around 3:30 p.m. May 13, police said, and the off-duty officer chased the offenders. He eventually caught up two of the boys: A 15-year-old and 16-year-old.
The crime happened around 3:30 p.m. May 13, police said, and the off-duty officer chased the offenders. He eventually caught up two of the boys: A 15-year-old and 16-year-old.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Ed Komenda

CHINATOWN — Three teenagers shoved a 12-year-old girl standing outside her school, stole her cell phone and took off running, police said.

Little did the teen robbers know: An off-duty police officer saw the whole thing unfold.

The crime happened around 3:30 p.m. May 13, police said, and the off-duty officer chased the offenders. He eventually caught up to two of the boys: A 15-year-old and 16-year-old.

"He jumped right in the action and chased them for quite some time without regard for his own safety at all," said Deering District Police Cmdr. Daniel Godsel, standing between Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th) and Ald. Danny Solis (25th) at a Thursday morning news conference near the girl's school. He was able to apprehend two of them and he held on to them until 9th District officers arrived."

Godsel said the Deering District has stepped up patrols in Chinatown since the strong-arm robbery.

Police this week asked Near South Side residents to look out for three people they believe were behind a recent string of armed robberies in Chinatown.

In those incidents, police said, two young men and a woman walked up to people in the street and rob them at gunpoint.

The robberies were reported at the following times and blocks:

• 3:50 p.m. April 28 in the 100 block of West Cermak Avenue

• 1:50 p.m. May 4, in the 2200 block of South Wentworth Avenue

• 8:01 p.m. May 11, in the 2700 block of South Princeton Avenue

• 8:30 a.m. May 12, in the 100 block of West Cermak Avenue

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: