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Mountain Biker Punching and Robbing Elderly Women in Queens, Police Say

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | January 21, 2014 2:43pm
 Police are searching for a man attacking elderly women in Queens.
Police are searching for a man attacking elderly women in Queens.
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Flickr/Nick Allen

QUEENS — Police are searching for a "sick" mountain bike-riding man they say has been attacking elderly women in Queens, by punching them in the face and snatching their purses.

Two such incidents, both in broad daylight, took place last week in Southern Queens, police said. Both victims were in their 70s.

The first incident took place on Wednesday, Jan. 15, around 2 p.m. on 119th Avenue and 204th Street in St. Albans.

The second incident occurred the following day around 10 a.m., at 116th Avenue and 197th Street, police said.

In each case the man approached the women as he was riding a light blue mountain bike. He then punched the women and robbed them, police said.

The police described the man as being about 45-years-old. He was wearing an old jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers.

“It could be any of our mothers or grandmothers,” said Deputy Inspector Miltiadis Marmara, the commanding officer of the 113th Precinct in South Jamaica.

Marmara said that a number of plainclothes officers have been patrolling the area since last week, hoping to catch the man before he attacks again.

“We are not going to wait for the third [incident],” he said. “We are not going to rest until we get this sick person.”

Marmara also said the two victims “are OK, but they are very shaken up.”