NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper and 76 Ellie Colin (left) and alleged mugger 22-year-old Elijah Gay.
NYPD
Seventy-six-year-old Ellie Colin says she has lived in the Big Apple for over half a century, went to school, worked, and has lived in Manhattan for all those years without incident — until Jan. 26.
The senior, who told amNewYork Metro that she is an avid subway rider and likes to keep active, was heading to her Upper West Side home that fateful day when a man later identified as 22-year-old Elijah Gay — an individual with an extensive criminal record, police said — allegedly robbed her as she was leaving the 73rd Street and Broadway station.
“I was walking up the steps, it was really very empty. And all of a sudden, I’m being jostled against the railing I was holding. I see someone bang into me and take my wallet,” Colin recalled. “I said I’m not gonna stop at the middle of the steps because whoever he is could push me so I got up to the top. I looked in my pocketbook and sure enough, my wallet was missing with $500 dollars and my credit cards.”
Unsure of what to do next, Colin decided to head home — but within minutes her cellphone started buzzing with notifications that her credit cards were being used. The thief apparently wasted little cashing in her cards, leaving his victim even more distraught.
With everything happening so fast, Colin said she mulled over whether to even report the incident, skeptical that police would take a stolen wallet seriously. But reports of incidents are critical toward helping police stop repeat offenders.
“More often than not, the people that are doing these crimes are doing more than one. And it’s very important to report it so we know what’s going on,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said. “We keep tracking data and that’s how we deploy our personnel based upon crime reports. So, if we don’t know what happens it’s very hard to deploy.”
Colin said she ultimately…
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