'Disturbing' Central Park Crime Spike Due To Teen Robbers: Report

CENTRAL PARK, NYC — Teenage robbers targeting people in the northern section of Central Park were in part to blame for a "disturbing" spike in the park's crime rates last year, police said.

Overall crime in Central Park went up 33 percent last year, with 69 crimes happening in 2019 when just 52 were recorded for 2018, the West Side Rag first reported.

Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi, commanding officer of the Central Park Precinct, told residents at a community meeting last week that many of those crimes were committed by young people, including five robberies in the northern section of the park by groups of suspected teenagers, the Rag reported.

The park's section between 86th and 110th streets had a disproportionate share of the crime last year, he said.

Overall robberies in the park shot up from 15 in 2018 to 21 in 2019 and grand larcenies increased from 28 to 37, police said.

Yaguchi, who called the trend "disturbing," said his precinct has increased patrols to help stop the rising crime rates and are encouraging parents of teenage suspects to get involved so they don't continue to commit crimes.

More cops will also be stationed at the lower end of Central Park so that perpetrators cannot escape through the green space, Yaguchi said.

Pedestrians should stick to well-lit big roads at night since 80 percent of the crimes in the park happen on dark, small paths, he added.

The crime spike comes as cops investigate the fatal stabbing of Barnard student Tessa Majors, who was killed in Morningside Park, just a few blocks from Central Park's north end.

Police have charged a teenager in that case, too. A 13-year-old, who is not being charged as an adult, is facing charges of felony murder, weapons possession and robbery, though he is not suspected to have stabbed Majors himself.

Majors was stabbed to death on Dec. 11 while walking through Morningside Park. Police officials said the killing likely occurred during a botched robbery.