You know how we love the Post Police Blotter? It always has the kind of story that the Times will never cover, because the crime is too petty or too Outer Borough. So why did the paper’s City Room blog cover petty cell-phone theft today — one that was actually averted before cops even arrived? Turns out Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler, who is 35 and the youngest of Mayor Bloomberg’s henchmen, was walking around in midtown when he heard a scream. Then this happened:
He turned around and saw a young man running in his direction in the middle of the street, away from a woman who had yelled for help. It turned out the young man had just stolen her cellphone, the police said. At that point, Mr. Skyler sprung into action. Mr. Skyler “cuts him off at a right angle, he runs into his path,” said Paul J. Browne, the chief police spokesman. As Mr. Skyler reached for him, the youth slipped on ice, and Mr. Skyler, who is taller than 6 feet, was able to wrestle him on the ground near a parked car and hold him there, Mr. Browne said. “He tackles him, basically,” Mr. Browne said.
The woman even got her phone back! We love this kind of hands-on, grassroots cleaning of the city — did Giuliani ever take a squeegee out of anyone’s hands personally? These City Hall types get it done! Excuse us, we’re going to go call Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris and get her to come by our block and dismantle that one car alarm that goes off every morning at 3 a.m.
Deputy Mayor 1, Cellphone Snatcher 0 [City Room/NYT]
The woman even got her phone back! We love this kind of hands-on, grassroots cleaning of the city — did Giuliani ever take a squeegee out of anyone’s hands personally? These City Hall types get it done! Excuse us, we’re going to go call Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris and get her to come by our block and dismantle that one car alarm that goes off every morning at 3 a.m.
Deputy Mayor 1, Cellphone Snatcher 0 [City Room/NYT]
