NEW YORK, March 14, 2007
Outrage Over NYC Granny Muggings
Man Who Attacked 101-Year-Old Woman May Be Safer If Cops Find Him First
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Mugger Is NYC's Most Wanted
New York police are searching for the mugger who appears on tape punching a 101-year-old woman to the ground. Bianca Solorzano reports.
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Mugger Of Old Women On The Run
Police are searching for a man who beat a 101-year-old woman to the ground in New York City. He is also a suspect in another attack of an elderly woman. WCBS' Dave Carlin spoke with the victims.
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Surveillance video shows the suspect assaulting 101-year-old Rose Morat before stealing her purse and knocking her from her walker. (NYPD)
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101-year-old Rose Morat showed her fractured and bruised face. (WCBS)
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85-year-old Solange Elizee was also assaulted outside her apartment door. (WCBS)
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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.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Posted by cathaleen at 08:29 AM : Mar 14, 2007
That about sums it up....sick isn't it.
Your comment is completely offensive and uncalled for. I found myself equally mortified of this crime like most rational people. To commit such a heinous crime regardless of race or ethnicity of those involved is a complete outrage. However, there is absolutely NO reason for you to use racial slurs in your post. Crimes in this nation are commited by people of various races, genders, sexual orientation, etc. No matter who does it it's still wrong. If you were truly a "human citizen" you wouldn't contribute the problem of racism and bigotry.
A hole.!
However, it just proves that we are a reactive society, instead of always being gentle, respectful and thoughtful of our elders, it takes something like this for people to jump on the band wagon
lmaxwell5172@hotmail.com
The jerk that did this is just a banger who left his normal route because he needed some extra drug money. either his "homies" wont turn him in ever, or the person that turns him in will save half the money for when he gets out of jail, which for simple assault is what... two to five?
so yes, in a way it is kind of a black thing.
it is NOT a white thing
It is easy to judge other people. But who are we to judge ?
We do not know what this person's childhood was like. Perhaps he was abused as a child ? Perhaps the "system" was unfair to him and his brothers and sisters. Maybe his father was in jail just because of his race ? The hatred that a person has , has to be learned. All things are learned either by example or by "teachers" via punishment. Can we not all of us, take some responsibility for this acting out, or is it a "call for help" ? .
We need more facts. We need love and compassion.
(the above is total BS but reflects the BS excuses, used a lot , like in Long Beach CA, when a group of 15 Blacks attacked 3 White teen girls on Holloween, and smashed their faces in with skate boards etc for the fun of it ! They all got off - ALL GOT OFF ! - why ? see above- with home probation . Are we crazy ?? One or more will grow up to be this guy ! or are they this guy already - here we are shocked by the video, three kids attacked by a mob, ALL got off ))
this is meant for debate, not for personal insults.
i stated why i felt this way, do you have any reason? other than a news story?
how many thousands upon thousands of white kids are bullied and/or beat up by black kids? (and the use of racial expletives is uncalled for, i was talking about the "rap generation" black youth) just because a group of spoiled upper middle class white brats beat up a bunch of people, that makes news because they rarely act up in that way. plus society would rahter crucify white people, since black people are protected, even though they brag about crimes on rap videos and call for the downfall of this great nation (nation of islam). All of these things are in everyone's faces every day, but no one wants to even say anything about it for fear of being branded racist. white people's taxes pay for a big portion of what a chunk of black people call "income". it is UNGRATEFUL for them to act in this way. I bet that guy who punched that old lady gets food stamps and welfare. or at least his family does. getting things without earning them just causes people to want for more and more. it never ends.
no more racism versus whites. no more freaking attacks on our mothers and children! prosecute to the extreme any gang banger or young thug that preys on people like this and it will finally STOP!
har har har - that's slave master talk all right. Didn't we provide all this nice food, and a roof over your head, and to fight back, why that's ungrateful.
That's the same stuff we get from our oppressive government and corporate slave masters- why we provide you middle class people with toys and entertainment, we only work you 60 hours a week, all we take in return is your manhood, your destiny, your self-determination, your natural resources, your social connections, your young women, your right to practice free religion and thought, your right to change society, to interact with each other in new ways, and you are so UNGRATEFUL that you grumble and don't work as hard as the Chinese.
Funny reading, those UNGRATEFUL, they have so much to be grateful fo, why, they are given free food. Food. Isn't that enough? What's the problem, people want more than food, what are they, human?
have you seen the legions of poor that have nothing because no one will give anything to them? starving or disease ridden that death would be a release?
people lying in the gutter because they had nothing and their parents had nothing, but to expect an early grave.
india, pakistan, egypt, sudan, chad, zimbabwe, thailand, china, just to name a few...
YES THEY ARE UNGRATEFUL
people went out of their way to protect them (white people too i might add) only black people have made a stink of white people "taking their manhood".
get real
Odd that you use the rhetoric of freedom fighters to encourage whites fighting with blacks, which is the typical distraction our enemies use against us. They keep us constantly fighting against each other. Which is the very mechanism by which we lose any real chance at freedom and self-determination.
It's "liberals against conservatives" or "whites against blacks" or "women against men" and all the while the elite consolidate more power and wealth into their own hands. We lose our right to be men, to matter in the course of affairs, to change our own country and affect the future,` and it certainly isn't "blacks or whites" that take that from us, it is an organized and focused group of wealthy and influential elite.
Might as well fight Coke against Pepsi or something, or Kerry versus Bush, its a lot of phony dichotomies that keep stupid people stupid and distracts their anger while they rape your daughter, "legally" of course, by enticing her with money or a job or whatever.
So I recognized this story as an attempt to use the middle class to create a "safer" environment for the crooks and financial people of New York, which are the big firms like Goldman Sachs and so forth who are feverously betraying America to foreign interests, while taking unprecedented record wealth. But, they want New York to be a secure playground, a sort of adult-themed Disneyland, with sushi and clubs and starry-eyed country girls. Safe to walk around. They managed to do a lot recently with supressing the inhabitants of New York and keeping them in fear, but its wearing off like fear always does. Some of the locals are starting to make trouble - time for the planted news stories about "outrages" to get stupid middle class people to suppress the poor for them. Don't do it, be smart. Dead bankers means more jobs for Americans.
Long post, but there is a lot to understand about the media, and the reasons for stories appearing. The media is as important as elections, there is a lot going on behind the scenes.
Out of all the post I have ever read on CSB yours has to be one of the stupidist...you are truly off the charts. Unbelievable !!!!
I propose they are tourtured, they dying bodies dragged through the streets, and their carcasses burned.
It is barbaric, YES. Would it make an example, YES.
a-human-right.com
love your post!
What amazes me is that people who speak out about personal responsibility are the first people to use the "blame the race" card when it suits them.
I find what this man did reprehensible and would have regardless of his color or the color of his victim. I also find it reprehensible to turn every issue into a race discussion when the topic is not a white-on-white one.
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.
In any group of people, most people are nice, some are morons, and some are a--holes.
I think it was D i c k Cheney.
If you want your manhood, be a man. Get your a$$ out and find a job like the rest of us. Pay your bills, get off welfare&foodstamps, Move out of section 8, Invest time in raising your kids. Then you can call yourself a man.
I have a feeling this person will be caught and punished severely. He will end up in jail, and I doubt his jailmates are going to be impressed with his record of beating up 85 and 101 year little old ladies.
He's either a disgusting human being, or, more likely, hopelessly addicted to drugs which have removed all sense of decency from him.
I am not turning this into a racial, religal, genderal...etc issue. Yes, it is disgusting, looking at the picture of the lady makes me want to hunt down this b@stard and skin him alive one square inch at a time.
I don't feel race is an issue here at all. However as I responded to an earlier post, if you want to be a man, you must own up to your responsibilities. Obviously, the previous poster had not since he was complaigning about White's taking his manhood.
p.s. to whatithink: I didn't notice anyone but you playing the "race card" here. When they gave the physical description to the police were they supposed to leave the guy's race out of it just because he's black? It doesn't sound to me like a whole race is being blamed for the attack. Personally, I don't give a rat's butt what someone's race is. An ****** is an ******. Plain and simple. This guy is definitely an
******.
Hate crime laws for homosexuals who get beat up acting like a woman to be picked up in a bar. Hate crime laws for using "words" such as *** and ending in a fight.
Check crime statistics. Last time I checked white on black crime was almost nothing and white on black rapes almost nothing, NIL!! Will the hate crime law affect this black man beating up a white 101 yr. old woman? Way to go America.
Which is why these anti-gun nuts are WRONG
YOU CAN'T STOP CRIMINALS BY DISARMING POTENTIAL VICTIMS.
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In my state, it is legal to kill someone if they break into your house while you're still in it.
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Which is why
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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.
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What you are saying makes no sense. If you look at the hate crime statistics it works both ways and both black on white and white on black hate crimes are numerous.
HOWEVER, unless he was beating her up because she was white instead of because he wanted her money, I don't get the point.
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.
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Pleading ignorance might work with the Bush administration, but you are doing a poor job of it. You seem to have missed many of the messages before mine.
I agree with you.
I just think previous posters who talked about WHITE THINGS and BLACK THINGS or whatever or the one who said blacks are only smart if they have white blood are ignorant. Additionally, the fact that they said this and the other poster (ajaxrose1) can't even see the racism in their posts makes me wonder whether we can ever truly unite.
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