Thieves stole sleds from three children between the ages of 10 and 16, including a 12-year-old girl whom they punched in the face, in Central Park earlier this week, police say.
Police say the teenage thieves approached the kids in the park near West 86th Street around 5 p.m. Monday and asked to use their sleds. The kids agreed, and the suspects took the sleds and walked away.
When they tried to get the sleds back, one of the suspects punched the 12-year-old girl in the head. The suspects then fled the park with the sleds.
No arrests have been made in the robbery, which was first reported by the Central Park NYC Park Advocates.
Police are looking into whether the sled theft is connected to another robbery in the same area of the park about three and a half hours later. In that case, a 38-year-old man was robbed by a masked man.
The man, who asked not to be identified, told NBC 4 New York he was walking near the 86th Street transverse when two masked men approached him.
"They punched me in my mouth twice, I felt one of my teeth fall out and another one broken," he said. "I still didn't know what they wanted and after that, they punched me again and I fell down into the snow."
The assailants kicked the man, emptied his pockets and showed two knives as they robbed him, the victim said.
U.S. & World
-- Roseanne Colletti contributed to this report.
