NEW YORK (WCBS) – New York police say someone stole the purse of an 85-year-old woman in a wheelchair, but NYPD officers made sure the victim knew people cared.
The robbery happened around 2:15pm on Sunday and was caught on surveillance video.
Bernice Starnes said that she was sitting in her wheelchair when a woman walked up to her.
“She said ‘Hello’ and then we said, ‘It’s a beautiful day.’ She said ‘It sure is’ and that’s when she grabbed my bag and ran down the street,” Starnes said, explaining the incident. “She grab my pocketbook and I said, ‘Bring my pocketbook back here’ so I tried to get out of my wheelchair to try and run after her.”
Starnes’ neighbors describe the 85-year-old as a nice person who most call “grandma” or “Miss Lady.” Starnes lives alone, but many people in her building help her out.
“People in the building help her,” neighbor Tarsha Stallworth told WCBS. “When she wants to get downstairs or if she needs a store run. She doesn’t deserve that at all.”
On Monday, police officers visited Starnes and gave her $130 to replace the money that was taken from her purse.
The gesture brought Starnes to tears.
“That’s why they’re New York’s best,” she said.