Police scratch heads over shopping center assault

Police seemed baffled about why one man assaulted another last week while the victim was shopping. 

That victim, 56, was walking in front of 184 W. 237th St., outside of the Riverdale Crossings shopping center, police said, when his attacker reportedly threw him to the ground before jumping in his car and driving off. 

Police arrested a 59-year-old suspect in the attack, but said the reason for why it transpired in the first place remained unclear. The two were strangers, police said.

Burglars lift change machine

Burglars broke into 3635 Johnson Ave., but they failed to reach any of the building’s apartments to make their score. 

Instead the crooks decided to go into the building’s laundry room and make off with its coin-change machine. 

The burglars hit the apartment building around the pre-dawn hours of May 10, and put a sock over a security camera, police said, as they took off with the machine. 

Police aren’t sure exactly how much money was in the machine when it was taken, but the case remains under investigation. 

Car crooks target designer bags

This week may not have been the best for people who tend to leave their purses inside their cars after thieves targeted two vehicles for exactly that pricey loot. 

The first break-in happened May 10, when a woman left her car parked opposite 6241 Broadway overnight. When she came back, police said someone had smashed her passenger side window and taken her Michael Kors purse along with $60 cash. 

The second happened three miles south in front of 5523 Broadway, according to police, where they say someone made off with $2,800 in handbags. 

The victim said she left her car with a valet at around 1 a.m., but when they brought it back nearly two hours later, someone had taken two Louis Vuitton purses from her car. 

The thieves also made off with two pairs of Celine sunglasses. 

Both cases are under investigation. 

Hubby helps stop wife’s car theft

A woman got some help in stopping a man who reportedly broken into her car last week from a perhaps unlikely hero: Her husband. 

The 50-year-old’s husband apparently saw a man rummaging through her car, police said, when he decided to call the cops. 

The suspect, 31, was caught on-scene in front of 236 W. 259th St., on May 10 before he could even make off with the stolen goods, where he was arrested.