ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A violent robbery in St. Petersburg Tuesday night left a woman battered, bruised and with broken bones.
Now police are appealing to the public to find the culprit before he acts again.
“That could have been me,” said the woman’s neighbor Albert Nieves.
Nieves watched surveillance video that shows the 53-year-old woman as she walks north along 66th Street. Moments later, a man carrying a metal object, perhaps a pipe, is seen following her. Off camera, he beats her up badly and robs her.
“I know somebody seen something. Somebody had to see something. The guy had the pipe in his right hand walking down this street. Somebody seen the pipe” said Nieves.
A neighbor told police, the attacker was wearing a NASCAR jacket with a UPS logo. He may have turned it inside-out during the attack.
The violent incident has St. Petersburg Police on high alert.
“She seemed to be just minding her own business walking and then he came up behind her, hit her with this metal rod and stole her purse. So we really believe the purpose was robbery. He wanted her purse” said Yolanda Fernandez with the St. Petersburg Police Department.
“I’d like to catch the perpetrator. That’s why I think it’s so important, me just riding around. I have a clip on the front of my bike where I can record things like that,” said Chris Steiner who rides his bike around the area often.
Fernandez said sadly, nobody stopped on the busy road as the attack went down.
“And he really got away with nothing but left her with some severe injuries,” said Fernandez with the Police Department.
Police believe the heartless thug may be riding a dark-colored mountain bike. Cops really want to get him off the streets.
