Doorman steps in to help woman being robbed outside of an apartment building on Upper East Side
By Sonia Rincón
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NEW YORK, NY (WABC) — A doorman aided a woman under attack on the Upper East Side Sunday, police say. And although he was unable to stop the robbery, he did stop the incident from becoming much worse.
Thanks to the doorman the victim was unharmed, and she still has her purse even though the two thieves managed to snatch her phone. Plus, now the NYPD knows exactly what the assailants look like.
“I did what I could, and I wish I could have done more, but it just happened so fast that I couldn’t,” said the doorman, who asked to remain anonymous.
The attack happened around 3:45 p.m. just outside of an apartment building at 75th and Madison.
In a matter of seconds, a pair of thieves chasing the 24-year-old woman pinned her up against the glass of the building lobby, right in front of the doorman at his post.
“I heard like a thump. She hit the glass with her face. And when I looked up our eyes kind of met and all she said, ‘Help,'” said the doorman.
When he ran outside to help, the attacker who had pinned the victim yelled, “She stole my phone,” the doorman said.
“So, I stepped back because now I thought, I am aiding the thief? But that was enough for them. That little distraction,” the doorman said.
Then, the male assailant grabbed the victim’s phone and ran, as the victim tried to chase him.
The doorman says the two thieves were laughing as they ran away with the phone.
“What struck me is that they were so bold. Even when I was outside, they still continued to rob her,” the doorman said.
Witnesses who saw the whole attack did nothing.
Residents of the building at 75th and Madison are praising their doorman, calling him a hero for his quick intervention in a violent, brazen robbery.
No arrests have been made. Police are asking anyone who recognizes the attackers to call 800-577-TIPS.
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