Woman hit with hammer during attempted purse snatching in Brooklyn

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Woman hit with hammer during attempted purse snatching in Brooklyn
Joe Torres reports on the hammer attack in Brooklyn.

BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police are looking for the man who attacked a woman with a hammer during an attempted purse snatching in Brooklyn.

It happened at 7 a.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Wilson Street in Bushwick.

Authorities say the 38-year-old victim told police the man approached her from behind, pushed her to the ground, and tried to take her purse.

When she refused to let go, the man hit her several times in the face with a heavy object then fled.

"'Give me the money! Give me the money!' I didn't know what to do," she said through a translator. "I lost my bearings. I don't know how I got up, but I was dizzy. I took off running, asking for help."

The woman, a mother of two who didn't want her name used, suffered a gash above her eye, bruises and aches to her neck, and scrapes to both knees. She was treated for her injuries at NYC Health and Hospitals/Woodhull and released.

"It's a miracle I'm here explaining what happened," she said. "Please, I ask for justice, that police find him so he can go to jail."

Police believe the man seen carrying a hammer in surveillance video recorded around the time of the attack may have been behind it.

"Today for me, tomorrow for you," the victim said. "Today, it happened to me. Tomorrow, it could be someone else."

They are asking anyone who recognizes him to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

You can also submit tips by visiting the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by messaging on Twitter @NYPDTips.

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