Somebody Got Mugged Playing Pokemon Go Live On Twitch

Ricky Yaneza, a 43-year-old gamer, was live-streaming his gaming session of Pokemon Go while traveling through Central Park in New York City on Monday morning. Yaneza didn’t complete the session or finish his walk because he was mugged.

According to ABC News, Yaneza had three phones on him for his live-streaming session of Pokemon Go. He was broadcasting his exploits on his Twitch channel for all to see. However, things took a nasty turn when he was hit in the face by a mugger and was told to hand over his electronic devices.

The article doesn’t specify if Yaneza handed over all three phones or just the ones the robber could see, but he ended up giving up the goods to the early morning mugger.

The report indicates that Yaneza was treated on the scene for minor injuries, and proclaimed to the news outlet that he was alive and that was “all that matters really”.

This isn’t the first time (and likely won’t be the last) that individuals were robbed while playing Pokemon Go. A group of teenagers at one point were driving around, robbing young kids traveling into remote parts of town. The teens drove around in the car spotting out areas where Pokemon were in Pokemon Go, and waited there for people to show up when no one else was around to mug them. The police eventually caught up to the boys and arrested them.

In another case, a young teen discovered a body while out trying to catch Pokemon in Pokemon Go. In yet another case, a man ran into a parked police car because he was distracted while playing Pokemon Go. The officer was unharmed.

In a more serious incident in Japan, a man ran over two elderly women while charging his phone after playing Pokemon Go.

The media has a had a field day reporting on these unrelated incidents that have occurred since the game was released. One French town sent a decree to Niantic Labs asking the developers to completely remove any and all Pokemon Go related items and material from their town because they didn’t want to deal with the hassle.

In this particular case, there wasn’t much that Yaneza could have done. Police did issue warnings about staying safe while out and about playing a game like Pokemon Go. Niantic Labs was a bit more specific, telling gamers to partner up when playing the game in public, especially in places where they may be unfamiliar with the locals or are out at night.

For those playing the game in New York City, it’s especially important to be careful when traveling the city during the odd hours. According to the official New York City website, they’ve had more than 280 reported robberies across the city just two weeks ago, and over the course of the month they’ve had more than 1,700 robbery complaints. For the year-to-date, more than 10,500 robbery complaints have been filed throughout 2016. Based on the stats, it’s shocking we haven’t had more reports about people being robbed while playing Pokemon Go in New York City.