By Geoffrey Croft
A 43-year-old man was robbed of three cell phones in Central Park early this morning while playing and streaming Pokemon Go live.
The incident occurred 12:30 am. about 100 yards inside the park near 59th Street and 6th Avenue.
The victim was walking alone inside the park when he was approached from behind and punched in the back of the head by an assailant.
The attacker forcably removed the cell phones after throwing the gamer on the ground.
The victim told police he was playing “live” with an unknown number of players on the web and was going to go home and check on his home computer to see if anyone had been recording the action live.
The incident was captured on the victim's Twitch live stream which viewers watched in real time as it occured.
"Look at me I'm just a lazy Pokemon player," the happy but distracted player wearing a bright yellow shirt says a moment before the attack.
The video shows the attacker, wearing a black shirt approaching the player from the left side and quickly moving in, violently putting his arm around the victim's throat and tossing him to the ground.
"Take it off, take it off let's go," the thief tells the victim.
"No, no, no, please, please, please," the victim pleads while on the ground.
A few seconds later the attacker, wearing red basketball shorts, is seen running away into the park and breathing heavily.
About a minute later the thief is heard shutting down the devise.
The victim told police he had purchased the three phones, a Samsung S-7, a Samsung S-7 Edge and a Nexus S-P, for the express purpose of playing the game.
"I got mugged playing Pokémon GO in Central Park. Still talking to police and will go to hospital soon, " the victim tweeted out that at 2:04am using his screen name, "Rickeybot."
A good Samaritan shouted and chased the assailant north into the park but lost him.
Minutes later the good Samaritan returned and helped the victim find his glasses.
Police have made no arrests.
The suspect is described as approximately 6 foot tall.
“He literally just sucker punched me,” the victim said over the phone.
“My right jaw is swollen. He clotheslined me with his fist. I hit the ground. I have a bump on my head and a scratch on my elbow.”
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