Attack on NYC Woman, 101, Caught on Tape
Posted: March 11, 2007
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In this image taken
from a security camera video and released by Time-Warner
cable television news station NY-1, a mugger strikes
101-year-old Rose Morat in the head before stealing
her purse Friday, March 9, 2007, in New York. Morat
suffered a broken cheekbone in the attack that netted
the suspect $33.00. The same assailant is believed to
have assaulted an 85 year old woman at another address
a half-hour later. (AP Photo/NY-1) |
NEW YORK - myfoxny.com - For a moment, the
man in the grainy video looks like a good Samaritan holding the
door open for an elderly neighbor. Then he turns and delivers
three sharp punches to the 101-year-old woman's head.
"The next thing I knew, I had a big bang on the side of my
face," said Rose Morat, who suffered a fractured cheekbone
and lost her purse and $33 to the mugger.
The attack was captured by a surveillance camera in the lobby
of her Queens apartment building last Sunday.
"I'm quite sure that if it had happened when I was younger,
I would have been after him," she said. "I'm a very
strong woman. I've been that way my whole life."
Police said the same man is believed to have later attacked
a second elderly woman in the neighborhood. Investigators were
searching for a suspect Saturday.
"We are pulling out all the stops to find him," Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. "We want
to stop him before he strikes again."
Morat said she was headed to church when she met the man in
her lobby. He offered to help her make her way out, but she
declined.
"I know how to handle myself," she said.
As Morat maneuvered her walker through the building's small
vestibule, the man slowly put his bicycle against the wall,
turned, and attacked her, the security video showed.
Her hat flew off, but she remained on her feet as the man removed
her bag and felt her coat pockets.
Then, before making his escape, he punched her in the head
again and shoved her to the ground.
Morat spent three days in the hospital.
The 85-year-old woman believed to be the mugger's second victim,
Solange Elizee, told police she was punched and pushed to the
floor outside her apartment door by a man who had initially
offered to help her get home.
"I like to help old people," he said before turning
violent, according to Elizee.
The man took her purse and got away with $32, police said.
"God saved my life," she said. Article at: myfoxny.com
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