Mar 10, 2007 6:33 pm US/Eastern
SHOCK VIDEO: Man Punches 101-Year-Old Lady In Face
Suspect Also Wanted In Nearby Assault On 85-Year-Old
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
-
-
Rose Morat, 101, says she feels sorry for the man who attacked her, punched her and knocked her to the ground over a few bucks in her pocketbook. Surveillance video captured the March 4 attack and now the NYPD is looking for the suspect, believed to be a b
CBS
-
-
Surveillance video captured what appears to be a black male punching out a 101-year-old woman inside a vestibule in Jamaica Hills on March 4. That same man is also wanted in connection with an assault and robbery of an 85-year-old woman a half-hour later.
CBS
For a moment, the man in the grainy video looks like a good Samaritan holding the door open for an elderly neighbor.
Then, he attacks.
In a sickening scene captured by a surveillance camera, a 101-year-old woman was beaten by the heartless villain in the lobby of her Queens apartment building last Sunday.
Rose Morat suffered a fractured cheekbone and lost her purse and $33 to the mugger. But she remained unbowed.
"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 attacked a second elderly woman in the same neighborhood shortly after the first assault.
"We are pulling out all the stops to find him," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement on authorities' continuing search for a suspect. "We want to stop him before he strikes again."
Members of the public had made more than 1,000 calls to a police tip line, though most were simply "volunteering exactly what they want to do to this guy," Kelly said.
Morat said she was headed to church when she encountered 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.
The security camera captured the ruthlessness of what happened next.
As Morat maneuvered her walker through the building's small vestibule, the man slowly put his bicycle against the wall, turned, and delivered three sharp punches to her head.
"The next thing I knew, I had a big bang on the side of my face," Morat said.
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 -- hard -- 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.
Anyone with information on either of these cases is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Slideshow: Openly Gay Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
NYC Public Schools To Be Closed Wednesday 2 mins ago 
City Hall Pulls Recalled Toyotas From Fleet 19 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Comments