Serial Purse-Snatcher Using Getaway Car In Village Crimes: Cops

GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — A Village purse-snatcher is using a getaway car to speed away after attacking women, police said.

The thief has tried to snatch two women's purses in two days on street corners in what cops are now calling a grand larceny pattern.

The purse-snatcher first went after a 26-year-old woman on the corner of West 12th and West Fourth streets just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18, police said. The would-be thief got out of the passenger seat of a getaway car and tried to grab the woman's purse, but ended up driving away empty-handed, police said.

The next day, the same suspect went up to a 69-year-old woman just after 8 a.m. on the corner of West Houston and Mercer streets, police said, This time, the suspect was able to snatch the woman's purse, which had a checkbook, credit cards and $200 cash inside, police said.

The purse-snatcher drove away in the same getaway car, which police have caught surveillance video.

This is the second time this week police have warned about purse-snatchers in the neighborhood.

Cops are also looking for a man and a woman who have been attacking women and stealing their purses in the Financial District and near Union Square.

That pair a 29-year-old woman off the elevator in a building near near West and Morris streetsand then grabbed her purse and cell phone from her hands, cops said.

They then came up to a 39-year-old woman in a building near Union Square and threw her to the floor, punching her before taking her cell phone and about $1,200 from her purse, police said.

Anyone with information in regard to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.