NEW YORK (CBS) ― A deaf, 83-year old, Upper East Side grandmother fought back against a mugger in the hallway of her apartment building.
Elsie Barretto still has plenty of fight left.
"I fought. Yes I fought him. I punch him. I don't remember if I scratched him. I don't remember. But I know I beat him and beat him and beat him and kicked him first. That's why he got mad at me because I threw him down. When I threw him he hit himself on the wall and he got mad and started beating me more, beating me more," she said.
Barretto has bruises on her chest and leg, along with a black eye and stitches in her mouth. Police told CBS 2HD the mugger was caught on camera slipping in behind her in the building's secondary entrance.
He rode up on the elevator with with her and she remembers telling him to "have a nice day" before he attacked. She told detectives she now has something else to say to him.
"If you people find him do me a favor please and get him to me. He said 'OK, why?' So I can ask him why, why you did that to me? I did not do nothing to you why did you do this to me? And if he don't talk, you know whast I'm going to do? I'm going to punch him in right in the face and I'm gonna break his mouth and break his nose. To teach him a lesson," she said.
The alleged mugger is in his 20's, 5'10" with dark complexion. If you know him, call the tips hotline, and help police find him before Elsie does.
