BY EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Newsday
Mugging caught on tape
A week after a man knocked her to the floor of her Queens apartment building and stole her pocketbook, 101-year-old Rose Morat has become everyone’s grandmother.
Yesterday it seemed as though the whole city was searching for her mugger. Ten fliers showing a blurred image of the man police say attacked Morat, were stapled to telephone poles on the block of Highland Avenue near her building in Jamaica Estates.
A police van with a loudspeaker drove back and forth through the neighborhood, broadcasting a description of the attack and a telephone number for witnesses to call.
The attack happened March 4 about 12:30 p.m., as Morat left her building. A man offered to hold the door for her, then threw her to the ground, shattering her cheekbone. Police said the man, described as being in his 30s, left the scene on a pink or red bicycle. Another woman, 85-year-old Solange Elizee, was attacked about a half hour later in a nearby building.
Police released surveillance video of the attack on Morat last Friday. Since then, the assault has drawn nationwide media attention. “We’re getting calls from all over the country,” a police spokesman said.
Yesterday, neighbors and friends said they had their eyes peeled for the man who attacked Morat and also were keeping vigilant tabs on visitors to the apartment building.
“Rose is a tough gal. I’ve known her 37 years,” said a neighbor who declined to give his name. “This is a very stable, very quiet neighborhood.”
Neighbors described Morat as a pleasant woman who enjoys cooking and regularly attends a nearby neighborhood church. “She’s always walking up and down the hall with her walker, trying to stay in shape,” said Jesse Olivieri, 22, who lives down the hall.
No one answered the door at Morat’s apartment yesterday. Neighbors said they thought she was inside, but may have been overwhelmed by the attention. A niece has been staying with her since the attack, neighbors said.
Detectives visited Morat’s apartment yesterday while uniformed police officers surveyed the scene outside.
The attack has angered residents across the city, said community activist Calvin Hunt, a former Jamaica Estates resident who now lives in the Bronx. Hunt’s group, the People’s Committee, has planned a rally for this morning at 9 a.m. at the 103rd precinct to support police officers’ search for the attacker.
“This is a gutter rat,” Hunt said of Morat’s assailant. “We’re going to flush him out.”
Hunt said one purpose of the rally is to show support for a precinct whose officers came under fire in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting.
For him, the beating of the elderly woman touched a nerve. “Everybody’s got a grandma,” Hunt said.
Copyright 2007 Newsday