Crooks Puncture Tire, Rob Car

As a driver tried to fill his flat tire, a thief snuck into his car and stole items. Cops say the thief punctured the victim's tire to set uPhoto byNYPD

By Dan Gesslein

Queens Voice

December 23, 2022

QUEENS - Cops are looking for a pair of crooks who staged an elaborate way of robbing a driver by puncturing the man’s tire and robbing him as he tried to fix his flat.

Investigators said that at around 8 pm on November 21, two men walked up to a car in front of a fish market on Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven. The men punctured the rear passenger tire.

Seeing his tire gauge go off in the car, the 62-year-old owner drove to a nearby service station on Parsons Boulevard. Following close behind him were the two men who punctured the tire.

Surveillance video then shows the driver get out of his car parked in front of the gas station’s air compressor. As he bent over to fill the rear tire, the video shows one of the men walk from across the street. The man then crouched as he approached the car. He opened the driver’s door and slipped into the car.

Cops say the crook took a bag containing $500 cash, a gold ring and a debit card.

As the driver continued to pump air into his tire, the crook slipped out of the car, walked across the street and into a waiting black sedan.

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 CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/

or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.