The NYPD is cracking down on unregistered scooters as robberies involving moped-riding bandits have become a frequent problem across the city over the past couple months.
Officers targeted migrant facilities throughout the five boroughs Wednesday night where they seized dozens of illegal electric bikes and took them away on a flatbed, ABC7 reported.
The confiscated bikes had no registrations or had stolen plates, according to the station.
Many migrants use mopeds and scooters for income, delivering food to New Yorkers through apps like GrubHub, Seamless and UberEats.
But scooters have also been used by thieves to grab pedestrians’ wallets, phones, jewelry and purses and quickly get away with the stolen belongings, according to police.
“We are seeing an uptick of scooter robberies in the city, particularly in Manhattan, where individuals are on scooters, normally two on a scooter, and they’re taking their cell phones, AirPods, Beats, wallets, purses,” NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told the news station. “We’re going to be over aggressively going after these scooters and moped on city streets.”
Over the last two months, there have been at least 17 reported robberies involving scooters in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, according to the NYPD.
In at least two of the thefts, the victims have been violently thrown to the ground when the scooter-riding suspects ripped purses off their shoulders and arms, police said.
The bandits have targeted New Yorkers as young as 11 years old. A man on a scooter in Queens tore chains right off the 11-year-old girl’s neck on Jan. 10, cops said.
The scooters present another danger to New Yorkers due to illegal lithium-ion batteries which have been known to explode and cause deadly, fast-moving fires.
In the first two weeks of 2024, lithium-ion batteries sparked eight blazes in the Big Apple, injuring three people. In 2023, there were 267 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, killing 18 and injuring 150.
“These illegal, uncertified devices are ticking time bombs,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said after a November blaze in Crown Heights, Brooklyn sparked by one of the batteries killed three people from three generations of one family.
