A ruthless teenager brutally beat an 80-year-old man on the subway — spraying him with an unknown substance, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the chest before running off with his wallet, police said Tuesday.
The teen robber approached the octogenarian while he was entering the A/C subway line at Pitkin Avenue and Euclid Avenue in East New York around 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15, cops said.
“The 80-year-old male victim was at the turnstile to enter the A/C line when an unknown individual approached him, flashed a light into his eyes and then sprayed him in the face with an unknown substance,” according to the NYPD.
“The individual then placed the victim in a chokehold and forcibly removed the victim’s wallet from his pants pocket.”
During the struggle, the kid punched the elderly stranger in the chest and fled above ground with his wallet, which contained personal identification and a bank card, cops said.
The victim was treated at the scene and refused further medical attention.
The victim’s stepson, Emmanuel Rosa, 35, said the elderly man was on his way home from visiting friends at a Spanish grocery store when he was attacked.
“Somebody grabbed him from the back and grabbed him at the neck,” Rosa said, of his stepdad. “They threw some spray … on him.”
“It’s only dumba** people who do this sh*t to old people. I hate people like that. It sucks, man.”
“He was shaken up,” he said about his stepfather.
He said he didn’t believe it when he first heard what happened because nothing has ever happened to his stepfather before.
“I just want them to catch them and make them pay for what they did,” he said. “I’ll leave everything up to God.”
The Post was withholding the victim’s name to protect him.
Police released surveillance video that shows the suspect going through a turnstile alone.
He was described as a male in his late teens, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 150 pounds, with a thin build, who was last seen wearing a dark blue vest with a white hood, a red shirt and black pants, according to police.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
