Serial Purse Snatcher Wanted For Robberies Across Queens: NYPD

FLUSHING, QUEENS -- The same thief who was caught on tape snatching a woman's purse and throwing her to the ground in a Flushing parking garage is wanted for at least six other robberies across Queens, police said.

Earlier this month, the NYPD released shocking surveillance footage of a man in a bright red coat sending a 59-year-old woman flying face first into the concrete after he ran up behind her and grabbed her purse at around on March 5 at around 4:45 p.m.

The struggle inside the Royal Plaza parking garage ended when the man escaped down 41st Road with the woman's purse, cops said. He made off credit cards, an iPhone 6S and around $400 in cash, Patch previously reported.

The scuffle landed the woman in Booth Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for cuts and bruises.

But cops don't believe the violent robbery was an isolated incident. On Monday, the NYPD released additional footage of the suspected purse snatcher, who is believed to have jumped a string of other women across eastern Queens in the months leading up to the March 5 attack.

The robberies began in East Flushing the morning of Dec. 16. A 46-year-old woman was walking near Oak Avenue and Parsons Boulevard at around 8:45 a.m. when the man grabbed her by the neck from behind and yanked her purse from her arm, cops said.

The man hopped into his white sedan, where a getaway driver had been waiting, and the two sped east on Oak Avenue. He made off with the woman's wallet and cellphone, police said.

The pattern continued as the man continued to sneak up behind women of all ages - sometimes grabbing them by the neck - and forcefully snatch their purses in the months that followed.

He struck again on Oak Avenue - this time a block away near Burling Street - the evening of December 21 and twice more at the corner of Booth Memorial and 150th Street in January, cops said. Both times, the driver of a white sedan was waiting nearby to help him flee the scene.

The perp proceeded to snatch a 56-year-old woman's purse on Jan. 25 in Queens Village - miles away from his previous targets - and another woman's handbag three weeks later in Fresh Meadows between 181st Street and Union Turnpike, authorities said.

None of the women reported serious injuries from the attacks, police said.

Cops described the thief as a man in his 20s, standing at around 6-foot-1 and weighing roughly 180 pounds. He was last seen in the March 5 attack wearing a bright red coat, a gray baseball cap and black pants.

Anyone with information in regards to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Lead photo and video via NYPD.