Alfonso Scannapieco is 96-years-old and in all his years he has never been mugged. He thinks there is guy on the loose likes to prey on the elderly, but this senior didn't go down without a fight.
Scannapieco cannot walk very fast anymore, but he says if had a second chance at the guy that mugged him inside the hallway of his Woodside apartment building, the man would be sorry.
"If I run into him, he is going to have to fight me. Naturally I am going to lose, but he still going to have to fight me," said Scannapieco.
It happened last Thursday at around 3 pm. Mr. Scannapieco was just getting back from shopping when he found a man waiting in his hallway. The man opened the door and said "funeral". Mr Scannapeico thought he needed money for a funeral.
"I put my hand into my pocket to give him money," adds Scannapeico. "We went upstairs and when we got to the 5th floor, that is when he grabbed me," he adds.
Scannapeico says the man pushed him to the ground and fled.
Surveillance cameras captured images of the suspect. Mr. Scannapeico says he got away with about $90 dollars.
The suspect is described as a 40-50 year old black male, 5'4"-5'5" tall, wearing a black parka jacket, black ski cap, black gloves, and black pants.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
