A 13-year-old migrant boy and three masked buddies stabbed a man in a brass-knuckle beatdown near Times Square – all because he wouldn’t take their photo, cops and sources said.
The Ecuadorian teen and his pals approached the 23-year-old victim around 9 p.m. at West 40th Street and Second Avenue and asked him to snap their picture, police and sources said.
When the pedestrian said no, the crew ganged up on him – socking him in the face and knifing him in the back and leg, authorities said.
They also tried to grab his cellphone but were unsuccessful, cops said.
The suspects ran off, but cops managed to nab the young teen after searching the area with the victim, police said.
The youngster – whose last known address is the notoriously violence-ridden Roosevelt Hotel – was charged with second-degree robbery, cops and sources said.
The victim refused medical attention after the violent encounter with the stab wounds only superficial, authorities and police said.
The three suspects who are still on the loose were each last seen wearing all black and black facemasks, sources said.
The arrested teen was previously busted this past Oct. 26 in connection to a chain snatching on board a northbound F train at McDonald Avenue and Avenue X in Brooklyn, law enforcement sources said.
Four other suspects were involved – with all five holding down the victim, who had been sleeping before the robbery but then tried to fight off the muggers, the sources said.
The teen’s bust steps from the Crossroads of the World came weeks after NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri told The Post that the department is “arresting juveniles at the highest level than we have ever seen before.”
“We are seeing juveniles commit five, six, seven robberies. Most of them get dealt with under the Family Court statutes.” Lipetri said.
