An elderly man was taken for a ride in Long Island City against his will on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 17.
Police say a 34-year-old man parked his 2016 Subaru with the engine idling near the Skyline Tower at 44th Drive and 23rd Street just before 5:15 p.m. as he went into a store leaving a 72-year-old passenger in the rear seat. As the victim entered a nearby commercial establishment, a stranger allegedly got into his vehicle and sped off with the senior still inside.
After the suspect made a left onto 21st Street, he headed out of Hunters Point on Borden Avenue and then turned onto Review Avenue and drove east through Blissville all the way around Calvary Cemetery towards the Kosciuszko Bridge before heading north on Laurel Hill Boulevard, according to the NYPD.
Police from the 108th Precinct in Long Island City responded to a 911 call and found the stolen vehicle had been ditched in the vicinity of 53rd Avenue and 44th Street in Maspeth near the exit ramp from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the eastbound Long Island Expressway. The car thief fled the scene in an unknown direction leaving the senior inside the Subaru. He was not injured during the auto theft, police said.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the suspect that shows him passing through one of the subway stations in Long Island City. He has a dark complexion with a beard and mustache and was wearing a black hooded winter jacket with a white logo on the left side of the chest.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest and indictment.
Anyone with information regarding this grand larceny auto investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Jan. 11, the 108th Precinct has reported eleven grand larceny auto cases so far this year, a half dozen more than the five reported at the same point last year, an increase of 120%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
