Shoplifting: NYC police confront migrant group in Upper East Side store

A group of six individuals, including Yusneiby Machado, 23, and Brayan Freites, 21, allegedly engaged in a shoplifting spree at a store located on Third Avenue near East 70th Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The perpetrators reportedly snatched items worth $82 off the displays, leaving behind a trail of chaos and confrontation.

According to reports, the group seized a variety of items, including a gaming light, a backpack, tools, and a selection of food items such as Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Doritos, strawberries, and bottled waters. Their brazen theft escalated when responding officers from the NYPD’s 19th Precinct intercepted them.

Machado and Freites allegedly reacted aggressively, engaging in physical altercations with the police officers. The duo reportedly wrestled, shoved, slapped, and pushed the officers in an attempt to resist arrest. In a further alarming turn, another member of the group, who remains unidentified and at large, attempted to hurl rocks at the officers during the confrontation.

Despite the attempted assault, the officers remained unharmed. Machado and Freites were subsequently charged with a litany of offenses, including robbery, assault, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, criminal possession of stolen property, disorderly conduct, and harassment.

The ordeal did not end with Machado and Freites. Three additional suspects from the same group, identified as Sebastian Jaramillio, 22, Michael Sanchez, 31, and Henry Zambrano, 19, were also arrested and charged with robbery and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident.

This incident has highlighted concerns over the brazenness of criminal activities and the challenges faced by law enforcement in urban areas.