MANHATTAN — Police are looking for a man they said first mugged a hard-of-hearing woman and then an elderly woman in Central Park Friday afternoon.
The suspect first approached a 38-year-old woman from behind, put her in a chokehold and wrestled her to the ground at approximately noon on Friday, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
The victim, who wears a hearing aid, pretended to be completely deaf and the robber then told her “I’m sorry” before running off without any of her belongings, sources said.
He then approached an 80-year-old woman about 15 minutes later near West 106th Street and West Drive, the spokeswoman added.
The man then punched the senior in the head, took her iPhone from her jacket pocket and fled, according to police.
Both women were not seriously injured and neither had to be taken to the hospital, the spokeswoman said.
Investigators are also looking into whether the muggings are connected to a Jan. 19 incident at West 106th and West Drive where a man robbed a woman and then tried to sexually assault her, the New York Daily News first reported.
Police said the suspects in all three of the incidents were described as a man in his 20s standing about 5-foot-8.
