Man Who Shot 125th Street Cleanup Worker Is Sought: Police

HARLEM, NY — Police are asking for help identifying a man accused of shooting a sanitation worker who was cleaning up 125th Street earlier this month.

The 61-year-old worker was a contracted employee of the 125th Street Business Improvement District, which deploys clean-up crews to tidy up the Central Harlem corridor.

Around 1:45 p.m. on Nov. 13, the man was out on the job near the corner of 125th Street and Fifth Avenue when an unidentified man pulled out a gun and shot him once in the buttocks, according to police and local leaders.

Police shared footage of the suspect on Tuesday, and asked anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline.

Police did not identify the victim as a worker, but Barbara Askins, who leads the BID, told Patch the details matched up with that incident. Askins said the worker was a bystander to a fight happening on the street, and that he had not been the intended target.

The worker was released from the hospital but has not yet returned to the job, Askins told Patch.

Earlier this month, Askins's organization wrote a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio asking him to address growing safety concerns along the 125th Street corridor. They cited increases in petty crimes, including burglaries targeting local businesses.