80-Year-Old Fights Off Muggers On Upper East Side, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The NYPD are trying to identify a group of muggers who targeted an 80-year-old woman inside her Upper East Side apartment building, police said.

The elderly woman was followed into her apartment building by a mugger Tuesday night on East 88th Street and First Avenue, police said. While inside the building entrance, the mugger reached for the woman's purse from behind and attempted to snatch it from her, police said.

A struggle ensued and the 80-year-old woman managed to hold off her attacker long enough to get help from a man living in the building, police said. The man heard the woman's yells for help and ran out into the lobby, scaring off the mugger and a lookout who stood outside the building, police said.

During the struggle, the mugger pushed the elderly woman up against a wall and threw her to the ground, according to NYPD footage of the attempted robbery.

See the NYPD footage below:

The mugger and lookout are part of a three-person robbery team that is wanted in connection with one other robbery on the Upper East Side. On Friday, Dec. 15, the three men mugged a 23-year-old woman in front of an apartment building on East 92 Street near Lexington Avenue,police said.

One of the muggers approached the woman and tried to grab her purse, police said. When the woman resisted, the two other men shoved her and the three muggers ran off with her purse, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Photo/video by NYPD