Gutsy woman, 71, fends off violent attack by 4 teen girls on blue city subway
An unflinching 71-year-old woman gave a group of would-be teen muggers a taste of their own medicine when they tried to mug the senior on her way to church on New Year’s Day.
The gutsy straphanger fought off the four female teens as they punched and stomped on her during the botched robbery on the New York City subway system, the latest in a string of crimes on the Big Apple’s crime-ridden transit network.
The victim was on her way to a church service on New Year's Day in Brooklyn at around 6 p.m. when she got off a Number 3 train at Hoyt Station – only to be set upon by the teens, according to the NYPD and a New York Post report.
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Police say the four suspects tried to steal the woman’s bag and struck her on the body. The NYPD released video of the group smiling as they pass through subway turnstiles and police say they are still on the loose. They have asked for the public's help in tracking them down.
The woman, identified by the Post as Linda Rosa from East New York, detailed the disturbing attack to the publication, saying she was adamant she would not be robbed.
Rosa said after one of the teens tried to grab her purse while a second also tried to get her sticky fingers on it, asking the senior if she wanted to fight.
The first teen then smacked Rosa in the face, knocking her glasses to the floor, while the second teen managed to snatch a pocket pouch that held Rosa’s ID and medical records, she said.
"I was still wrestling with the first person," Rosa told the Post. "Then I was trying to kick her in between her legs, but my leg wouldn’t stretch far enough, so I believe that’s when I fell. I fell, and then she stomped on me."
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Fearing the law flouting teens would stomp her in the head, Rosa said she fought back.
"So I got up right away, and with that, I grabbed her braids and twirled them around my right hand, and then I pulled her down. She had her head down," Rosa said. "Then the other young lady said, ‘Let her go.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m not letting her go.’"
The plucky senior yelled out for someone to help her and then the second teen came for her again.
"So out of nowhere, I grabbed her hair and twisted it around my left hand," Rosa said. "So I had them both facedown….[like] rams when they’re getting ready to fight."
Rosa said the other two teens screamed at her to let the pair go and Rosa then yelled for help.
The senior eventually cut them loose and the stunned teens bolted from the subway system.
Rosa then headed to the nearby Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, where the staff tended to her and called 911, per the Post.
Police tell Fox News Digital that the victim sustained minor injuries and was taken by EMS to The Brooklyn Hospital Center in stable condition.
She told the Post that she was thankful they did not have weapons and that the frightening ordeal didn’t spark a heart attack.
Nevertheless, she said she forgives them.
"They do not know what they do," Rosa told the Post. "They don’t know what they did. It’s just teenagers acting foolish."
She said that nobody is safe in New York City’s subway system or on the streets these days.
"It could happen to anybody," Rosa said. "Now we’re seeing seniors getting attacked. Anywhere – it can happen anywhere, any station. You could be walking down the street. You could be crossing the street."
The attack came just a day after a 45-year-old man was shoved into an oncoming subway train in Manhattan. He suffered a head injury and was miraculously listed in stable condition.
Days earlier, police say an illegal immigrant from Guatemala heinously set on fire and burned a woman to death on a subway train in Brooklyn, New York.
The crimes come despite New York Governor Kathy Hochul touting the subway system as safe.