A man attempted to stop a robbery of an expensive watch after making arrangements online to meet up with the suspect to make a sale in person.
The unnamed man reportedly made a deal online to sell his Rolex. After a man came to meet him in Massapequa, New York, the alleged thief decided to take off without paying.
As reported by WABC-TV, the victim was seemingly already missing a shoe when the suspect started backing up in an attempt to flee the scene with the watch. The man was reportedly hit by the thief’s vehicle, causing him to stumble to the ground and lose another shoe, along with other items.
As the driver began moving forward to drive away, the victim jumped onto the hood of the vehicle and held on near the windshield wipers. The video footage cut out as the driver sped away with the man still on all fours grasping the hood of the car.
The victim reportedly suffered multiple cuts, but no serious injuries.
Massapequa is a town in the western portion of Long Island, New York, with a population of about 20,000.
According to FBI crime statistics, there were approximately 198,000 robberies in the United States in 2022. Nearly 50,000 of those robberies took place on a highway, street, sidewalk, or in an alley. An additional 32,000 took place in the home.
The vast majority were committed with some type of weapon, with just over 19,000 (9.6%) committed without a weapon of any kind.
The average value of property stolen in 2019 was $1,797, with banks experiencing an average loss of $4,213 per offense.
Overall, the rate of robberies per 100,000 people has dropped significantly since 2012, when it was 113, down to 66 in 2022.
At the same time, police have routinely issued warnings to citizens about the dangers of meeting in person to sell items after organizing the sale online.
This included police in Philadelphia issuing a warning in May 2023, along with Chicago police putting out an alert after a string of 19 robberies related to Facebook Marketplace in 2022.
In the latter, a group of men had been stealing ATVs and motorbikes by approaching the victims in ski masks while wielding a handgun before taking the victim’s property.
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