Two Women Mugged On Upper West Side, Police Say

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The NYPD is trying to identify a man wanted in connection with two muggings on the Upper West Side, police said.

A man is accused of attacking one woman and stealing another's purse in two separate incidents this week, police said. The first mugging occurred early Tuesday morning shortly before 2 a.m., police said.

A 21-year-old woman was standing in front of the Fordham University campus on West 60th Street and Columbus Avenue when the man approached her and asked for the time, police said. The woman showed the man the time on her watch, but then he asked her to show him her phone, police said. When the woman refused and started to walk away, the man hit her in the face and fled the scene, police said.

The next night around 7:30, the same man approached a 73-year-old woman walking on Riverside Drive between West 77th and 78th streets, police said. The man ripped the woman's purse from her shoulder and fled the scene by running north on Riverside Drive, police said. The woman's purse was later found on Riverside Drive and West 80th Street with $200 in cash missing, police said.

The suspect (seen above) his described as a man in his 20s who stands about 5-foot-8 and was last seen wearing a blue hooded coat, black pants and black sneakers, police said.

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

Photo by NYPD