Posted on: April 15, 2026 06:30 AM

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Thief swipes cell phone from sleeping subway rider in Queens police say

The old saying “if you snooze, you lose” rang true for one straphanger in Queens last week after his cell phone was stolen while he dozed off on the subway.

Police said the 52-year-old man was asleep on a Manhattan-bound F train around 4:20 a.m. on April 7 when a stranger grabbed his iPhone — worth about $800 — and dashed off the train at the 169th Street station in Queens.

The thief left the station and ran off in an unknown direction along Hillside Avenue, police said.