A heartless teen preyed upon a mute paraplegic on Staten Island — stealing the iPhone that was the victim’s sole form of communication, sources said yesterday.
Nakiem Sanders, 18, approached Williams Washington, 38, in a courtyard near the United Cerebral Palsy office on St. Marks Place in St. George and snatched the phone from his wheelchair tray at about 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, sources said.
Detectives arrested Sanders Thursday, and he was charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Sanders has a tattoo with the words “live fast,” law-enforcement sources said.
Washington cannot speak and had been dependent on texting and e-mailing via the smartphone to communicate, sources said.
Although the two live in the same nearby Richmond Terrace housing development, they were strangers before the cruel heist.
Sanders had one prior sealed arrest on his rap sheet, sources said.