Bystanders Thwart UES Purse Snatching, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Two good Samaritans chased down a purse snatcher on the Upper East Side, preventing the thief from stealing the belongings of an 80-year-old woman, police said.

Police are searching for the accused mugger, who approached the elderly victim on the night of Sunday, Jan. 19 as she waited for an elevator inside the East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue subway station, an NYPD spokesperson said. After the man ripped the purse from the woman's shoulder, a man and woman intervened to take the bag back, police said.

Upon being confronted, the thief put his hand in his pocket to pretend that he had a weapon, hopped a station turnstile and fled the scene, police said.

Police described the purse snatcher as a man in his 30s standing about 6-feet-tall with a salt-and-pepper goatee. The NYPD released photos of the man Monday that were taken by security cameras inside the subway station.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477).