CROWN HEIGHTS — A 50-year-old cab driver was assaulted and robbed by two of his passengers as their friends stopped at a McDonald’s for food during a late-night ride on July 5.
The cabbie told police he picked up six passengers on McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint around 11:30 p.m. and drove them to 57 Empire Blvd., the location of a McDonald’s restaurant.
Four of the passengers got out of the car to get food at the eatery and, while they were inside, the two remaining men asked the driver to take them to another location, according to police.
When he refused, the man sitting behind the driver’s seat put the 50-year-old in a headlock and another man sitting in the passenger seat pulled a knife on him and took $200 in cash from inside the car.
Both men fled north on foot, police said. The cab driver was uninjured in the assault.
No suspects have yet been identified.
Other notable crimes in this week’s blotter from the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and East Flatbush include:
The map above depicts only those blotter items compiled by DNAinfo New York within the date range indicated, not all crimes that took place in a given precinct. To see all previous crime blotters from this precinct, click here.
► A male suspect flattened the tires of 12 cars on Lefferts Avenue between Albany and Troy avenues just after 9 p.m. on July 1, police said. The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime by the NYPD.
► A suspect fired multiple shots into the lobby of 636 Rogers Ave. at the corner of Parkside Avenue around 9:15 p.m. on July 1, damaging a glass door and a concrete wall. No one was injured during the shooting, and police did not have more details about the identity of the suspect.
► A 45-year-old man was arrested during a traffic stop after he failed to produce a valid license while driving his 2016 Mercedes through a vehicle checkpoint at New York Avenue and Sterling Street around 9 p.m. on July 3. When officers ran his license they found that he had been suspended on 16 previous dates for 32 different violations, according to police.
► An unknown person shot at least two bullets toward 236 Hawthorne St. at approximately 10:45 p.m. on July 3. Officers responding to the shooting found the building’s front door damaged by the gunfire and two bullets on the scene, police said. No one was injured in the shooting.
► A 48-year-old man was arrested at Kings County Hospital after staff there found he was carrying a loaded 9MM pistol inside the hospital at about 4 a.m. on July 5. Upon investigation, police found the gun had previously been reported stolen from Virginia. It’s unclear if the man was a patient or visitor at the hospital.
► A 17-year-old boy was arrested for robbing a 20-year-old woman selling ice creams in Brower Park on July 5, police said. The woman was selling the treats on Carroll Street near Rochester Avenue around 6 p.m. when the teen and she got into an argument. He then lunged at her, stealing $20 to $30 from her front sweatshirt pocket. He was arrested a short time later.
