 101-year-old New York woman mugged | |
Here's a tip for the guy who beat up a 101-year-old woman in a walker and took off with her purse: Get out of New York.
The mugging, caught on surveillance tape, has sparked outrage in a city where people are accustomed to hearing about strange, violent crimes. Police have launched an all-out manhunt, but it's not just the cops who want the villain's head.
"I could hold him, and let the woman beat him up," said Joe Sarju, 59, who lives in the Queens neighborhood where the attack occurred. "I'd love to beat him, but then they would lock me up."
The March 4 attack is clearly conveyed on the grainy videotape, which has been broadcast well beyond New York.
In it, Rose Morat, 101, is trying to leave her apartment building to go to church. The mugger, a man who looms over the senior citizen, pretends to help her get through the vestibule.
Then he turns to grab Morat's head and delivers three hard punches to her face, and swipes her purse. The dazed victim tries to reach for her purse when the mugger hits her again, pushing her and her walker to the ground.
He got away with $33 and Morat's house keys. She suffered a fractured cheekbone and spent time in the hospital. She has said in the days since that if she had been just a bit younger, she would have gone after the guy.
"I'm a very strong woman," she said. "I've been that way my whole life."
The New York Police Department has assigned dozens of detectives to the case and shown every uniformed officer in the city the surveillance video.
They believe the same man also attacked 85-year-old Solange Elizee, another neighborhood resident.
So far, at least $18,000 in reward money is being promised by several sources, including the police.
How could any normal do such a thing?! | 
