One has to wonder when the people of New York City are going to say, "Enough, already."
After a string of senseless acts of violence on the Big Apple's subways, we learn now of one more, this one on New Year's Day. This time it was four feral teenagers who tried to mug a 71-year-old woman who was on her way to church.
The elderly lady, though, just wasn't having it.
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.
"Unflinching" just doesn't seem to quite cut it as a description of the subway rider, Linda Rosa, and her fight back.
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."
Rosa may have been down - but she was most certainly not out. Not by a long shot:
"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."
The NYPD has released a video of the assailants (see the linked article), although it is unclear if the video is from before or after the attack. It does, however, show two of the four feral teen girls apparently smiling and laughing.
71-Year-Old NYC Grandma Defends Herself Against Teen Muggers in Subway Station
— Black Cat (@nxtr1609) January 4, 2025
Linda Rosa, a 71-year-old retired MTA worker, was attacked by four teenage girls at Hoyt Street subway station. As she exited the No. 3 train, one girl tried to snatch her purse.
Despite being… pic.twitter.com/7qKZm9MsJx
Now, it must be pointed out that Linda Rosa - who, after the attack, proceeded safely to her church and called 911 from there - was fortunate in that her attackers weren't as violent as some have been in recent days on the New York City subway system.
See Related: Awful: Another NYC Subway Attack Leaves a Man Fighting for His Life
While we should laud Linda Rosa for her fortitude, it shouldn't have been necessary. The Big Apple, in recent weeks, appears to be in free fall. It's a sad state of affairs for a city that, not all that long ago, one might have claimed that, if there were to be a capital of the world, it would have to be New York. It's a major cultural and financial hub; it is, or was, a place filled with fine dining, fine arts, and fine entertainment.
No longer. New York has returned to what it was in the David Dinkens era: a crime-ridden sinkhole from which residents are fleeing.
The crimes come despite New York Governor Kathy Hochul touting the subway system as safe.
You don't say.
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