By Thomas Tracy
Source New York Daily News
Bronxites rallied Thursday for the NYPD officer attacked in a brutal mugging by an alleged robbery crew, as police released new crystal-clear images of the suspects.
Local leaders demanded justice for Officer Muhammed Chowdhury — whose skull was cracked while he was jogging off-duty on Tuesday — and called for greater support for the NYPD.
“We have to make changes moving forward,” said William Rivera, district manager of Community Board 9. “That could’ve been any one of us. Whatever your ideology is, you have to stand by our law enforcement.”
Several dozen community members showed up at the scene of the crime, close to a baseball field on Olmstead Ave. near Lafayette Ave.
“Our beloved brother was attacked,” said Mohammed Mujumder, president of the Bangladeshi-American Community Council. “[We] ask our elected officials for more resources so they can be [caught]. The Police Department cannot do it alone.”
New images of the alleged attackers came as cops sought help in an eerily similar robbery involving another off-duty officer in Manhattan.
Video recovered by police investigating the assault on Chowdhury shows the four suspects getting out of a black sedan seen fleeing the scene.
They can be seen walking away from the car and returning a short time later with drinks. At least two of the suspects had their surgical masks down below their chin, making it easier to identify them.
One suspect wore gray camouflage pants and a black sweatshirt with the word “Punk!” across the chest. Another wore a black hoodie with “Death Row Records” on the front.
The video was recorded a short time after the robbery crew intercepted Chowdhury on the border of the Unionport and Castle Hill neighborhoods.
Three of the suspects pounded on the off-duty cop before running off with his car keys, cell phone and wallet. They ran back to their getaway car, which was last seen heading down Turnbull Ave.
The thieves left the Central Park Precinct cop dazed and nearly unconscious on the sidewalk with a cracked skull and bleeding on the brain.
EMS took Chowdhury to Jacobi Hospital — where he initially was listed as a John Doe because he had no ID and was unable to speak to first responders.
Chowdhury wasn’t identified until late Tuesday, when he failed to show up for his 3-11 p.m. shift at the Central Park Precinct. When cops couldn’t reach him by phone, they went to his house, but his wife said he wasn’t home, police sources said.
On Wednesday family members said he was conscious and talking to his wife.
“He’s talking to the doctor, a little bit. The doctor is advising to still rest,” Chowdhury’s father told The News outside of the cop’s home.
The cop’s dad, who wished not to be named, showed up at the home to give a uniformed officer some freshly picked okra. He asked the officer to get it to the hospital for his son to have.
“They said it’s better for him to keep resting now,” the dad said.
Chowdhury’s neighbors are pulling for the hospitalized cop, with some demanding swift justice for the foursome who left the officer for dead.
“They don’t deserve to go to jail,” said George Martinez, 75. “I hate to say it, but you got to get rid of them.”
“I saw the cops and the ambulance outside, but I didn’t see them put him in the ambulance,” said Hector Fernin, another neighbor.
“I’ve lived here for 12 years. It’s usually very quiet — it’s not a bad area of the Bronx,” Fernin told The News. “But after the pandemic, a lot of things have happened.”
“I hope they find whoever did it,” said Fernin, 65.
Police believe the thieves who attacked Chowdhury are also responsible for 18 other carjackings and robberies throughout the Bronx and Queens this month.
The crew allegedly kicked off the crime spree Aug. 1 with carjackings before switching up methods and robbing people on the street, police said.
The hunt for the Bronx robbery crew comes as word spread about a second off-duty cop mugged in a similar heist in Manhattan several days earlier. In that attack around 2:15 a.m. Friday, a 26-year-old officer and two friends were attacked on Dyckman St. in Inwood and robbed of jewelry, cell phones and wallets.
Chowdhury was at least the third off-duty NYPD cop to be mugged in the city within the last month.
“We are praying for his recovery,” Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said at the Thursday evening rally. “For his wife, for his children. You are not alone. When you attack one of us, you attack all of us. We will bring these individuals into custody.”
Besides Friday’s mugging, an officer was robbed of his firearm on July 27 as he unloaded his car in Hunts Point, the Bronx. The crook ran up to him, pulled a gun, and asked, “Are you a cop?” before taking the officer’s off-duty weapon, police said.
As of Sunday, robberies across the city have jumped by 39%, from 7,909 this time last year to 11,033. Nearly a third of the robberies, or 3,267, occurred in the Bronx, cops said.
Robberies in the Bronx have also jumped this year — by 42%, cops said. This time last year police were investigating 2,286 holdups in the borough, 981 fewer than this year, statistics show.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding the robbery crew that attacked Chowdhury to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
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