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Woman Stabbed by Mugger Just Wants Purse Palliative
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 13, 2010
Modified Sep 13, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 13, 2010
Modified Sep 13, 2010
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The unidentified 26-year-old waitress from Hawaii who was stabbed by a mugger at the 96th Street and Broadway 1 train platform early Sunday has been talking to the press from her bed at St. Luke's Hospital. The good news is she's in stable condition and recovering from a stab wound to her left side. The bad news is that cops still haven't recovered her purse, which is one of those totally special amazing handbags that has the power to make knife wounds irrelevant. "I can't breathe well: It's like someone's standing on my rib cage," the victim tells the Daily News. "But I wouldn't care if I had my bag."
The woman was stabbed by her assailant—described as a slender, 6-foot-tall black man with short hair—after she refused to hand over the purse, which contained a couple of hundred dollars in tips from her shift at a midtown restaurant. She says she'd noticed the man following her as she took the 2 train from Columbus Circle, and when she got off at 96th Street to transfer to the 1, "He kinda just circled me and showed me his knife. He grabbed my purse and I tried to grab it back. I wanted my purse. I had money, everything in there. I was scared, I wasn't really thinking. He stabbed me and I let go. I don't think I felt anything until he ran off and I pressed on it [the wound] and I was bleeding. I started freaking out."
She says there are almost two dozen people on the platform, but nobody came to her aid until she after collapsed, bleeding, to the platform. "They were just staring," she tells the News. "I said, 'I just got stabbed! Call 911! Does anyone know what I should do?' They just stared at me." By the time police arrived the attacker, who fled down Broadway with the precious purse, was long gone.
Tagged
crime
mugging
purse snatcher
stabbing
subway
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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