NYC thief robs a 10-year-old of her cell phone, takes off on a pink bicycle with butterflies on it

Police are searching for a thief who robbed a 10-year-old girl of her cell phone in Queens on Wednesday – and then made a getaway on a pink children’s bike with butterflies on it.

The girl was walking on 34th Avenue in North Corona on her way to school around 8am when the suspect approached her and ‘forcibly’ grabbed her phone before hopping on his pink bike and darting away, according to police.

The girl reported suffering pain in her hand and was treated by a school nurse. 

Police are asking for help finding the male suspect, who took off south on 102nd Street, police said. 

Footage posted by the New York Police Department on its Crime Stoppers Twitter page shows the man after the act as he stops at a convenience store and curbs a pink children’s bike with white tires and butterfly decals.

After making a purchase, the man rides off in the footage. He is wearing a gray sweatshirt and matching hat, with a red undershirt, black pants and a black backpack.

Crime in NYC soared over the summer before leveling off since August, though felony assaults continue to climb. 

Overall crime the week ending on October 3, the NYPD’s most recent data, is down 0.19 percent from the same period last year with 71,413 incidents in 2021 compared to 71,550 incidents in 2020.

The highest increase in the same period is felony assaults, which rose by 7 percent with 16,889 incidents in 2021 compared to 15,787 incidents last year. Murders and robberies are both down by 2.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Though rapes and shootings are both slightly higher by 2.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

The data shows a deep drop in robberies between this month and September – when they were up 6 percent from the previous year. Stark data released by the NYPD Wednesday shows crime rose 2.6 percent overall in September 2021 compared to the same month in 2020, with an extra 243 incidents reported.

Over the last year, New York has been rocked by a wave of violent crime, fueling fears it is returning to the dark days of the ’70s and ’80s when murders were rife and the Big Apple earned the nickname Fear City.

This prompted former state Governor Andrew Cuomo to take the unprecedented step of launching the nation’s first ever state of emergency over gun violence back in July.

But now, the situation appears to be getting even worse with a staggering 393 gun arrests made last month alone, bringing the total number of gun arrests to 3,425 between January and the end of September.

This is a dramatic increase of 20.9 percent from the same period in 2020 when 2,832 gun arrests were made.

Now, COVID-19 restrictions have almost all lifted, the US’s borders are poised to reopen to major tourist destinations and Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to lure back office workers to the city.

Yet, violent and horrific subway attacks and gang-related gun battles are still a common occurrence in the streets of the city.

On Sunday, three men repeatedly punched and stabbed a 19-year-old male victim after chasing him through the East Village in Manhattan.

In shocking video footage, the trio punch and stab their victim until he manages to struggle free. The three attackers then run off and the bludgeoned victim manages to stagger away.

The victim was treated for stab wounds in his back and shoulder at Bellevue Hospital, according to the NYPD, and has since been released.

Police said they arrested a 14-year-old for his part in the assault on Monday.

In another shocking crime on Monday, a 42-year-old woman was shoved from the platform and into an approaching train at the Times Square subway station. 

The woman was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition after sustaining facial injuries. 

The suspect — who remains at large — instigated her attack just hours before a man shot himself in the leg in that same subway station.

Monday’s shooting is the third at the tourist hotspot this year.

Officers were called to the Times Square station again on Monday, around 12pm, for reports of shots fired.

A 39-year-old from Brooklyn was urinating in the corner of West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue, near a McDonald’s and sushi restaurant Wasabi, when he was shot in his right leg, according to the New York Post.

Eyewitnesses told ABC 7 that the shots went off inside the subway station, with the man seen stumbling up to ground level afterwards, before re-entering the station to ask for help.

The bullet sent him stumbling down into a nearby train station.

Authorities have not named the man, who is likely to face criminal charges as a result. He is reportedly not cooperating with investigators. 

Authorities have not named the man, who is likely to face criminal charges as a result. He is reportedly not cooperating with investigators.