NEW YORK – Police are searching for the mugger who stalked a Pokemon Go player and stole his three cellphones. The entire attack was captured on video.
Ricky Yaneza showed PIX11 the three iPhone devices he was holding to livestream his Pokemon Go search when he was viciously attacked by someone inside Central Park early Monday.
On the video, Ricky says into the camera, "look at me, just a lazy Pokemon player," and then you hear the sound of fists hitting him and the jostling of the livestream cameras.
The entire mugging happened in real-time as he was live streaming his search for Snorlax on the gamer site Twitch TV.
You can clearly see Ricky's attacker with a headlight on his head and you can hear the him pleading, "no no, please no." And then the suspect races away in darkness.
"He had probably been stalking me in the park," Yaneza said. "I'd been going there for the last ten days with other Pokemon Go players."
Ricky, who'd gotten separated by his pack of about 10 Pokemon go players at about 12:20 a.m. Monday was treated by EMTs at the scene in Central Park near the 6th Avenue entrance.
With a swollen jaw, a bump on his head and cuts and abrasions to his elbow, this 43-year-old blogger at Ricky.org is going to wait a few days before going back in the park to play Pokemon Go.
"He means nothing to me. I just lost three cell phones," Yaneza told PIX11. "He is a scumbag. I have no message for him."
Police describe the suspect as six feet tall. He was last wearing a black t-shirt and red shorts.
Central Park is open until 1 a.m.
