An off-duty cop was robbed of his badge and wallet on a Bronx street early Sunday in a heist strikingly similar to a pattern of muggings occurring in the borough, police sources said.
The 36-year-old Wallkill, N.Y., police officer was stuck up at gunpoint near Merritt and Givan Aves. about 1 a.m. by four men who got away in a black Mercedes-Benz, cops said.
Cops are investigating a string of 10 similar robberies in the 45th Precinct — which includes the area where Sunday’s victim was mugged — and the neighboring 43rd Precinct. That pattern involves a group of crooks in either a Mercedes-Benz or a Chrysler, police sources said.
Sunday’s victim, who lives in Middletown, N.Y., was robbed in an industrial area just north of Co-op City, about a block away from a shopping center, bar and a restaurant. The muggers made off with his police shield, wallet, iPhone, bracelet and watch.
“I’d be shocked if this doesn’t get put into the pattern,” one police source said.
Cops have made no arrests.
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