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Teens Are Terrorizing Brooklyn Shop Owners, Feasting On Their Fear

Ben Yakas

Published Apr 29, 2015

Modified Apr 29, 2015

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Ben Yakas

Published Apr 29, 2015

Modified Apr 29, 2015

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A group of predominantly Asian-American shop owners in Bensonhurst say that rowdy, insolent teenagers have been repeatedly terrorizing them—stealing items from their stores, threatening them, taunting their customers, and more—since last summer. "We've clearly identified a very disturbing pattern that stretches far beyond one or two businesses," City Councilman Mark Treyger tells us. "Business owners are being taunted, harassed, cursed out, and one owner was punched in the eye."

Treyger says that the shoplifting, vandalism, harassment, and assault complaints almost wholly stem from Asian-American shopkeepers along a stretch of Bay Parkway between 60th Street and 86th Street. "These kids go from business to business to business across a 7-8 block stretch of Bay Parkway," he added. "Some businesses say it happens 3-4 times a week."

According to Bensonhurst Bean, the attacks were first reported in the Chinese daily newspaper Sing Tao. "They come in and grab everything they want three or four times a day," May Lee, the owner of dry goods store SYJ Trading, told the local paper. "It’s terrible. We have to lock the door and customers think it’s strange."

"When we close the door sometimes they stand outside with a knife, or they stand outside with fruit and just throw it at us,” Karen Ye, the daughter of the owner of a herbal store that has been in the teens' crosshairs, told CBS. "If not, then sometimes they have WD 40 and they try spraying it on the door trying to get in." Her father was the owner who was punched by one of the teens recently when he tried to shoo them from the store.

CBS writes something no adult ever wants to hear: "In the video, the fear in the merchants’ faces appears to amuse the boys." Treyger, along with fellow Councilman David Greenfield and Assembly Member Bill Colton, organized a meeting at the 62nd Precinct earlier today to talk with the affected merchants (with interpreters on hand) and share all their videos, photos, and testimonials of the incidents.

"It appears that there's a group of teenagers that come in between 8-10 in morning and sometime between 2-4 in the afternoon, and they terrorize these businesses," Treyger said he learned at the meeting. "One store owner said the kids will literally put things in their pockets in front of him, take candy, throw things on floor, destroy property, then would travel to another store."

Councilman Greenfield condemned the attacks in a statement to the Bean: "Discrimination against anyone is unacceptable. However, this discrimination against hard-working Chinese-American owned businesses is even more reprehensible," he said. "Local businesses are the backbone of our community. We are fortunate to have hard-working people come here from around the globe to improve their lives and our communities."

Treyger said that the business owners did not mention anything about any derogatory racial statements being made, but all the owners were Asian-American while all the kids were not. As for what happens next, the police have "a plethora of information" about the teens and the pattern of incidents, and they plan on reaching out to local schools to see if they can track down any of them.

Unfortunately, simply banishing teenagers from the city limits is not an option the City Council is prepared to take seriously (yet). "This is something we'll be following up aggressively to ensure the safety of all our merchants and residents," Treyger said, adding that business owners may form a merchants association to meet on a regular basis, to monitor progress of both safety and general quality of life concerns.

Teens have long terrorized adults throughout the city with their scooters and their snowballs, and things are only getting worse. De Blasio must resign.

Tagged

bad teens

brooklyn

mark treyger

teens

terrorizing

original

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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