What the heck has this world come to? Last night I watched a story on the news that just appalled and disgusted me. And it was all captured on video. The attack was captured by a surveillance camera in the lobby of a Queens apartment building last Sunday - look at the photo. The man in the grainy video looks like a good Samaritan holding the door open for an elderly neighbor. Then he turns and delivers three sharp punches to a 101-year-old woman’s head.As Rose Morat, 101 year old resident of Queens, NY maneuvered her walker through the building’s small vestibule, the man slowly put his bicycle against the wall, turned, and attacked her, the security video showed. Her hat flew off, but she remained on her feet as the man removed her bag and felt her coat pockets. Then, before making his escape, he punched her in the head again and shoved her to the ground. Morat spent three days in the hospital.
Morat said she was headed to church when she met the man in her lobby. He offered to help her make her way out, but she declined.
“The next thing I knew, I had a big bang on the side of my face,” said Rose Morat, who suffered a fractured cheekbone and lost her purse and $33 to the mugger. “I’m quite sure that if it had happened when I was younger, I would have been after him,” she said. “I’m a very strong woman. I’ve been that way my whole life.”Police said the same man is believed to have later attacked a second elderly woman in the neighborhood. Investigators were searching for a suspect Saturday.
Can you believe this crap. What have we become when the elderly are brutally attacked for a mere $33? In a KCBS-TV survey here in LA, it was polled to find out if criminals who prey on the elderly be given even harsher penalties. The response was great. 53% said yes, 5% said no and a whopping 41% said "Hang 'em High!"
Where has the respect for our elderly gone? If they made it as far as Rose here, leave 'em the heck alone. She didn't do anything to anyone and I am awed at her ability to fight off her attacker. This type of crap scares me. We've got to increase the penalties for criminals who pray on the elderly simply because they are an easy mark. They have earned their right to live out their lives in peace and tranquility...not get brutally beaten by some crackhead who needs $20 for his next fix.
I wish somebody saw this happen and did something. Call it vigilante justice or whatever. It's well deserved. I remember when people caught LA's infamous night stalker killer Richard Ramirez, the group of people would have beat him to death had not the police arrived. Okay, beating somebody to death is a little extreme, but teaching him a lesson on respect to the elderly isn't such a bad thing.
As a society, we need to toughen laws dealing with this type of crime and crimes against children. Let's make the penalty fall in line with the crime. Let's protect our elderly and children and send criminals that pray on them a message that this crap will not be tolerated anymore. In many cases, the aged and the children are helpless and cannot defend themselves.
But not our Rose Morat. Even at 101, she did her best to fight off a brutal attack that could have cost her her life. I admire this lady for looking at this crap in the eye and taking action...even if she didn't have to. And there is nothing that makes me happier than Rose's comment on the whole thing.
“I know how to handle myself,” she said. “God saved my life.”
