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A Bronx thug who wields a hypodermic needle as a weapon is suspected of mugging a 14-year-old on the subway yesterday — but fled before cops could catch up with him, sources said.
Angel Cintron, 39 — suspected in a string of eight robberies in The Bronx, five using needles — allegedly branched out to Manhattan, striking aboard a northbound No. 1 train just as it was pulling into West 86th Street at about 8:30 a.m., said the sources.
Cintron is alleged to have demanded the boy’s cellphone, threatening the teen with a hypodermic needle.
The teen, who was not harmed, got off the train when it pulled into the West 103rd Street station, at which point he called the police.
The youth later identified Cintron in a photo-array lineup, a source said.
Cops stopped the train five stations later, at 145th Street, but they were too late to catch the thug.
Cintron is believed to have first struck at about 11 a.m. on Aug. 16 when he robbed a man near Castle Hill and East Tremont avenues in Westchester Village, The Bronx.
Since then he’s allegedly robbed iPods, iPads and cellphones from at least six other victims, mostly teens ranging in age from 16 to 19.
He usually approaches the victims and starts a random conversation with them, police said.
That’s when he pulls out his hypodermic needle and demands that they hand over their electronic devices, they said.
It is unclear if the needles are loaded with any substances.
Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick and Larry Celona