Aug 18, 2008 8:38 pm US/Central
Mugger Attacks 85-Year-Old Woman; Steals $900
Video Shows Suspect Choking Out Victim In Elevator Before Running Off With Her Handbag And Cane
Police Believe Crook Behind Other Attacks, May Have Accomplice
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It was a stunningly heartless crime – an 85-year-old woman brutally beaten and mugged inside a Brooklyn elevator.
The whole thing was caught on camera and CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City has obtained the shocking surveillance video that police hope will lead them to the culprit.
The more you see the tape, the angrier you get. In the video, the elderly woman rides an elevator with a man who waits to attack until her back is turned.
Other cameras in the building catch him running to freedom with the woman's purse and cane – a cowardly predator in broad daylight. The victim's niece saw the video for the first time on Monday night.
"There she was just trying to get out to come and see me and this guy just grabbed her. I was not prepared for that," Claire France said.
The victim, 85-year-old Lillian France, was mugged last Thursday afternoon on her way to visit her niece. The Guyanan-born retired garment district seamstress is recovering from severe neck bruises, cuts to the face and lacerations on her cheeks and the roof of her mouth.
The psychological damage runs deeper because the mugger never seemed threatening before he struck. He played the old woman.
A terrifying attack in the close confines of the elevator. He pretends to be friendly. Asks her what floor, pushes the button for her. When they arrive at 5 he says 'this is your floor.' She begins to step out. Then, he grabs her from behind.
"She said, 'All I was saw was blackness,'" Claire French said. "For the rest of her life she is no longer gonna trust. She is gonna live in fear.
"So her sense of security that everyone should have in society is gone. It's a life sentence plain and simple."
This may have been more than a simple mugging. Lillian France had nearly $900 in her handbag, withdrawn from a Banco Popular branch on Eastern Parkway a few minutes before the mugging. She believes the mugger may have an accomplice -- a woman she remembers from inside the bank.
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