Police probe robberies on North, West sides

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating two robberies taking place in the same hour but in different parts of the city.

According to police, a 60-year-old Ford Avenue man was in his North Side driveway at 4:15 p.m. Thursday when three people wearing hoods, who appeared to be teenagers, came from behind his garage and jumped him. The three thieves threw the man to the ground and demanded his wallet.

The man told police the three assailants snatched an empty wallet from his pants pocket before running off toward Fifth Avenue.

Police found the victim at his home bleeding from both elbows. He was treated at the scene by paramedics.

Just before 5 p.m. Thursday, officers were called to the apartment of a West Side man who had been beaten and robbed.

According to police, the 55-year-old Mahoning Avenue man, who was in a wheelchair, was home with a female guest when two men came through an unlocked front door and demanded money.

The resident told police the intruders knocked him out of his wheelchair and beat him in the head while demanding money.

The resident told police the men took $50 and some prescription pills before running out of the apartment. The man’s 51-year-old guest said the thieves took about $750 from her purse.

The man told police he may have been set up to be robbed by the woman.

The man was treated by paramedics at the scene for a bump on the head.