PARK SLOPE — A thief couldn't pass on the opportunity to steal pricey throw pillows from a neighborhood brownstone while the owner was observing the first night of Passover, according to a police report.
The homeowner told police he was out "celebrating Passover, eating matzoh" on April 22 about 5:30 p.m. when a package from Pottery Barn was delivered to his house on 10th Street near Prospect Park West, according to the report.
A neighbor called the homeowner the next day and informed him that someone had rummaged through the boxes and removed the $413 throw pillows.
Other recent crimes in the 78th Precinct include the following, with all details from police reports:
► A 52-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery after he walked into Wine365 on Fourth Avenue and Sixth Street with a plastic bag over his head and demanded money on April 28 at 4:50 p.m. The store employee refused and the would-be robber ran away. Officers caught up with the man a few blocks away.
► A woman had $250 in cash and her Guatemalan ID stolen from her purse in the New York Methodist Hospital emergency room when she left her bag unattended "for two minutes" while she took her daughter to the bathroom on April 27 at 2 p.m.
► A woman had her iPhone, MetroCard and college ID stolen after she left them in the bathroom at the Brooklyn Public Library's main branch on Grand Army Plaza on April 26 at 4 p.m.
► A 21-year-old man was arrested after stealing $200 in cash from the Target in the Atlantic Terminal Mall on April 18 at 2:02 p.m.
► A woman stiffed a cab driver out of a $21 fare after he picked her up at Chrystie and Stanton streets in Manhattan and dropped her off at Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street on April 21 at 11 p.m. The woman refused to pay for the ride, then fled the area.
Overall, major crime in the 78th Precinct has dropped 19 percent this year compared to the same period in 2015, according to the most recent statistics from the NYPD. There were 214 major crimes reported between Jan. 1 and April 24, 2016 and 266 major crimes during that period in 2015.
Editor's note: The 78th Precinct no longer provides information to the media on open cases involving major crimes such as grand larceny, robbery, rape, burglary and felony assault. Some information on those crimes can be found on the NYPD's CompStat 2.0 website and on the NYPD's NYC Crime Map.
