A real-estate broker was robbed at knifepoint by three teens in Central Park early Sunday — and recounted his terrifying ordeal to The Post, adding he feels as if “crime is way up’’ in the city.
Zach Gutierrez, 35, said he was on his way home around 12:45 a.m. when he heard people running behind him.
“I was walking home from [the Upper East Side] admittingly late but was such a beautiful night and I regularly walk through park,’’ the man wrote in an e-mail, reaching out after he saw The Post article about the crime.
“I heard three people running behind me so I turned around so they wouldn’t run into me,” he said. “One of them took my arm as if he was my friend and wanted to tell me something. His friends pulled out a large white knife and then he took out a similar one.”
Gutierrez said he “panicked a bit” and gave them everything he had — his wallet and phone — and that they “immediately sprinted off.
“I realize walking through (the) park at night could be dangerous, but it never has been for me in the years I’ve done it,” Gutierrez wrote.
A 35-year-old man was robbed at knifepoint by three teenagers in Central Park on Sunday. Christopher Sadowski“I can say crime is way up in my experience, and speaking to many police last night I know, they feel helpless with bail reform,” he added. “I’m sure theoretically it is noble, but the results are overwhelmingly obvious to anybody living in the city right now.’’
He said he found a police officer a few minutes after he was mugged and told the cop what happened. Police said he filed a report, and law-enforcement sources confirmed his name.
“We canvassed for a bit and went back to 86th Street [stationhouse],” Gutierrez said of him and the officer.
The robbers got between $20 and $30 and his credit cards, which he immediately canceled, he said.
“When I got home, I saw they attempted to buy something at a smoke shop,” he said.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
