Outrage Over NYC Granny Muggings

Man Who Attacked 101-Year-Old Woman May Be Safer If Cops Find Him First

(CBS/AP)  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 vicious mugging, caught on surveillance tape, has sparked outrage in a city where people are accustomed to hearing about strange and 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."

Police have received about 1100 calls from people outraged and wanting to help, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.

"When you're over 100-years-old, people should be helping you cross the street, not punching you in the face," said CBS News The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "That's why so many people right here in New York would like to find this jerk, this thug."

The heartlessness of the March 4 attack is clearly conveyed on the grainy, black-and-white videotape, which has now been broadcast well beyond New York.

In it, 101-year-old Rose Morat is trying to leave her brick apartment building to go to church. The mugger, a man who looms over the senior citizen and is holding on to a bicycle, pretends to help her get through the vestibule.

Then, he turns, grabs Morat's head, delivers three hard punches to her face, and swipes her purse. The dazed victim tries to reach for her purse. That's when the mugger hits her again, pushing the woman 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. The attack didn't break Morat's spirit, though: She has said in the days since that if she'd been just a bit younger, she'd have gone after the guy.

"I'm a very strong woman," she said. "I've been that way my whole life."

"The elderly are particularly vulnerable when it comes to assaults by strangers, robberies by strangers. In fact, they have a greater chance of getting killed in such attacks because of their vulnerability," Northeastern University criminal justice professor James Alan Fox told CBS News.

The NYPD said it has assigned dozens of detectives to the case and shown every uniformed officer in the city the surveillance video. Police are canvassing residents in nearby buildings and talking to people in area businesses.

They believe the same man also attacked 85-year-old Solange Elizee, another neighborhood resident, shortly after robbing Morat. Elizee received facial cuts and bruises, while the mugger took off with $32 and two rings, including her wedding band.

Based on the victims' memories and the tape, police say the attacker is a black man in his 30s, about 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds. He wore a winter jacket with a fur-lined hood. The police department's public affairs office said Tuesday there were no new developments in the case.

Several posters have been placed throughout the generally quiet Queens neighborhood, urging anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers. So far, at least $18,000 in reward money is being promised by several sources, including the police, who Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday are raising their offer from $2,000 to $12,000.

Prompted by the attack, the state Senate's Republican majority proposed Tuesday to toughen penalties for assaulting an elderly person. The bill, offered by Sen. Martin Golden of Brooklyn, would make a felony of assaulting anyone more than 70 years old, among other provisions. Currently, such an assault could result in only a misdemeanor, punishable by no more than a year in jail.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers were struggling for the right way to describe the attacker, because curse words just don't seem to do it. In interviews and letters to newspapers, some suggested life imprisonment — or perhaps till he's 101.

John Brown, 45, of the Bronx, said the mugger must have been on drugs, because no rational person would do such a thing. "That was a cowardly act," fumed Brown. "For someone to do that to an old person — it was a cowardly, desperate act."

Others were reminded of the perils that could face their own parents and grandparents. Some wondered whether the mugger's mother was alive.

"My mom is 95, and if someone ever raised a hand to her ... they'd be dead," said Anthony Riccardelli, 58, who works near the crime scene. If he could get his hands on the mugger? "No one would ever know," Riccardelli said. "He'd be with Hoffa."

For others, it's not just about getting mad or getting revenge. Glenridge senior center in Ridgewood, Queens, is bringing back self-defense courses for the elderly in the next few days.

The center received dozens of phone calls on the topic after news broke of the attacks, said Susan Simonetti, the center's executive director. She, too had a warning for the mugger.

"Pick on somebody your own age," she said.

As for the victim, Morat told officials at the Queens district attorney's office she was too busy to meet with them Tuesday — because of a canasta tournament, the New York Daily News reports.

[krd3of3]

Hey, Klingon69 use your head. Clearly trueprogress is a right winger who is being sarcastic. Get a clue! I'm about as liberal as you can get, and I want to hang this guy from his toenails. I don't give a bleep what his childhood was like. Everyone knows, no matter how bad your upbringing, that you don't prey on the vulnerable. Period. Amen.

My issue here is with CBS' use of the term granny. It's incredibly condescending and disrespectful. How do we even know if she is a grandmother? This woman deserves more than cutesy nicknames, as do all elderly people in our country. They deserve our reverence and our respect. CBS, please, stop with the nicknames and honor Ms. Morat's dignity.

[klingon69]

trueprogress;
Please! You are spouting the same liberal *** that's been around since the 60's. A punk is a punk, and deserves no respect. He is only worth a short rope and a long drop.

[trueprogress]

Are we being too quick to judge here ? We do not know what motivated this gentleman . What kind of childhood did he have. Were his parents mean to him ? Did he know his father ? Was he abused by the system? I for one as a progressive, will withhold judgment until a full understanding of his needs, desires, societal limitataioins are fully explored. In all , we are all responsible. Who taught him this ? We did , as a society !

[hypnotoad72]

Oh, a woman with a walking frame no less - just HOW is she supposed to get the gun and shoot the ^^^^^^^^^^ where it counts? Reality check: He'd be more inclined to find it and do Lord knows what with it, to her or somebody else and the gun is registered in HER name, don't forget that...

[hypnotoad72]

This seems a straightforward case.

I find it amusing that some people think a 101 year old woman with a gun could stop him. (Reality check, she'd end up shooting something far different; eyesight and a steady aim worsen with age...)

What I don't find amusing is that pig still being free. I'm sorry but this pig has done something unconscionable. Find him, lock him up, in the same cell as the guy who killed Jeffrey Dahmer...

I also feel sorry for the 6 year old victim... but that woman has gone through a lot more in her time and probably has more to say about the ills of our sick society than that boy. By about 95 years' worth.

[cosby_8]

Granted,

This was an awful thing, and the scumbag should be put away, when apprehended.

But.... let's turn our attention to the arrest of two more scumbags, who murderded and buried the 6 year old boy in the state Georgia.

We all know the two most vulnerable demographics in our society are Children and the Elderly.

Come on people the woman being mugged is truly sick. But let's pour that same outrage towards the little victim in Georgia.

[gunownerdan]

whatithink, by NO means must you be an NRA member in order to understand the importance of responsible civilain gun ownership. Criminals prefer easy, unarmed victims.
http://www.a-human-right.com

[whatithink-2009]

To processor2,

Is the NRA paying you per post or something?

[processor2]

Too bad New York doesn't have a concealed-weapons law like my state.....THE MUGGER WOULD NEVER MUG AGAIN.

Which is why these anti-gun nuts are WRONG

YOU CAN'T STOP CRIMINALS BY DISARMING POTENTIAL VICTIMS.

IN MY STATE, IT IS LEGAL TO KILL SOMEONE if they break into your house while you're still in it.

...

[whatithink-2009]

To Hober_Mallow,

You wrote:

"But as far as 'then every white person must be responsible for the slave trade because some white people happened to have done it' goes, there are blacks who fervently believe this."

I agree with you. And, I hope you agree that there are whites who fervently blame all blacks for what happened to this woman.