Sutton Place Break-In Was About Bikes, Not Antisemitism: Officials

MIDTOWN, NY — A robbery at a Sutton Place kosher falafel spot was not motivated by antisemitism but rather by a crook's desire to swipe a pair of e-bikes visible from the street, according to police and local elected officials.

On Saturday at about 5 p.m., a unknown man smashed the front door window of the restaurant, Pita Grill, on East 57th Street and Second Avenue, according to the NYPD.

The restaurant was closed for Shabbat at the time, according to officials.

At first, police and local officials reported the smash as a possible hate crime, but as police investigated, they determined that it was most likely an opportunistic smash-and-grab.

When the front door window was smashed, a witness told cops, a thief entered the kosher spot and exited quickly with a pair of e-bikes which were visible from the street, officials said.

The witness then confronted the crook, who ditched one of the bikes and fled with the other, police said.

NYPD officials and local elected officials — including City Council Members Julie Menin and Keith Powers and Assembly Member Alex Bores — all said that while the investigation is ongoing, it appears that the robber was after the two e-bikes and not specifically targeting the business because it was a Jewish establishment.

Online social media users were not convinced, with one internet user comparing the break-in to Kristallnacht, blaming the smashed window on "pro-Palestinians," a claim made without evidence and not backed up by the police investigation so far.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said that while police believed it was a robbery, they are still reviewing additional video footage.

"Given the current environment, I have asked that they remain open to the possibility that it was a hate crime," Levine wrote on social media.