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Beware: Drive-By Purse Snatcher Wreaking Havoc In N.J.

Blue Hyundai SUV Caught On Video Targeting Women

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Hyundai Santa Fe SUV (credit: 1010 WINS/Steve Sandberg)

Hyundai Santa Fe SUV (credit: 1010 WINS/Steve Sandberg)

sloan

Reporting Christine Sloan

LODI, N.J. (CBS 2/WCBS 880) – It is new way for robbers to take your purse — drive by and snatch it from the window.

One man has managed to steal hundreds of dollars from women in New Jersey. And he’s still on the loose.


WCBS 880′s Levon Putney talks with Lodi police

On a surveillance video tape you see the driver of a blue Hyundai SUV pull up behind the woman a Clifton parking lot, then drive next to her, grab her bag, throw her to the ground and then speed away.

“As he’s leaving the force knocks her over as she’s trying to hold on to her purse,” Clifton Police Capt. Robert Rowan told CBS 2’s Christine Sloan on Tuesday.

The incident happened in the parking lot of a Target over the weekend. Police said the same suspect is responsible for seven other purse-snatchings since the beginning of the month in towns like Bloomfield, Lodi and Kearny.

His MO: he scopes out parking lots stores and looks for victims who may be distracted or carrying their bag loosely and then he goes into action like he did at a Wal-Mart in Kearny.

“The driver of the vehicle hung out of the window while the vehicle was moving and actually pulled the strap of her purse and she falls to the ground,” Kearny Police Deputy Chief James Corbett said.

In Lodi, the suspect hit his victim with his SUV as he fled. It’s a new grab-and-rob phenomenon in New Jersey that has many women nervous.

“This is the first time I am hearing about it. I always put my purse in the back of my car when I am loading,” said Lodi resident Linda Rodriguez.

“I have it in the shopping cart under my bags when I walk.”

Police said the blue SUV has no front plate and the back plate is covered with plastic. It also has a dent on the front left fender and some sort of parking sticker on a side window.

To avoid becoming a victim police said you should carry your bag in the front toward the parked cars away from moving traffic. Better yet, they said just put your money in your pocket.

There has also been an outbreak of purse snatchings in Nassau County. Police searching for two men connected to at least 10 incidents.

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  • Sean Patriot

    What the hell good are surveillance cameras if you cant see the liscence plates?

  • Sean Patriot

    If there was only SOME sort of device invented to throw or shoot pieces of lead or copper at these people it wouldn’t happen.

    • Gloria B. Jenkins

      lawl! But how could we get such an item?

    • Baillie

      Apart from shooting the crook, which while effective tends toward messy, there are less brutal options to discourage thieves. Try dummy purses full of…

      1) Holly mixed with poison ivy (a southern option) and an old wallet with the edge of a dollar peeking out in order to disengage brain for those crucial few seconds. A coupon for cortisone cream. would be a kind touch.

      2) A gift-wrapped rutabaga.

      3) A six-pack of those wee cans of prune juice.

      4) Loaded mousetraps.

      (No ID, of any sort, of course.)

  • Skipper

    So why arent the cops on the look out for a blue hyundai with obscured rear plate, no front plate and a sticker on the side.

    • Sean Patriot

      The vehicle is also dented near the head lights on the drivers side

  • hotgreenwasabi

    Oh no! Back in Lodi again…..

  • AZD2

    Oh and yesterday a boarder patrol agent was shot to death down near Tucson. The liberal media did not identify the race or legality of the people involved. They just said 4 people are in custody. Guess they must assume we already know it was mexican illegals, right?

    • hotgreenwasabi

      That article will not get wide-spread exposure, either!

    • bob

      border not boarder
      and 2 were mexican americans the other 2 were from el salvador
      1 of them is a police officer in Phoenix

  • AZD2

    Had one of those in the Phoenix area, Mesa I think. Girl was dragged to her death when she got tangled in the strap. Cops had two sketches. They used the worse of the two because you couldn’t tell it was a mexican. When the finally caught the guy he looked just like the sketch they wouldn’t use

    • AZResident

      Actually, that was in Tempe, at an iHOP on/near the ASU campus. But I agree, the original sketch they released was horrible; the 2nd one, done by a real police artist looked remarkably like the suspect they eventually arrested.

  • Jack

    The liberal media is a friggin’ joke!!! So PC that they are afraid to report the ethnicity of the suspect. Don’t you think it would help people be on the lookout for a certain type of individual????????

    • bob

      there is no such thing as racial profiling,
      they are just statistics

  • Marie

    He is probably just another one of the people Obama thinks needs our money, and decided the government isn’t stealing enough, so he will steal more. Why work, when you can get it for free? The mindset of the supporters of this administration!

  • The Bobster

    We all know it’s a bootlip, CBS. Quit hiding this fact.

    • Sean Patriot

      AHAHAHAHAHAH Never heard that one, but its funny and i’ll be using it from now on. Bootlip LOL

  • zone

    Criminals rely on the assumption their victims be law abiding.

  • The Good Samaritan

    Surprisingly it looks like other customers do not want to be bothered anytime this happens.

    It would be good to post up more security as a deterrent. Still it is not enough.

    The Good Samaritan has spoken.

  • PC

    Put a grenade it a purse. Pull the pin as he takes it. problem solved!!

  • Tax Servent

    I can not believe that this happened in NJ. What is this world coming to, thieves in NJ, unheard of. If only someone would make a device that could stop the bad guy in his tracks… Perhaps we could call it a gun and use it as a club. Oh what am I talking about, people in NJ have no idea how to defend them selves, that is why we have the incorruptibly police and a court system. Can you imagine what it would be like if the police, the justice system and the elected officials actually worked to help the state? Oh well, there is no money in fixing the problem but there is loads of money in talking a good game and setting up a revolving door system. The state would actually be better off financially if we just shut down the prison system, the police and the courts. Billions could be saved and then the citizens could protect them selves with real world solutions. Bang bang, bad guy and maker meet.

  • bonetrauma

    I think I wilol carry my .45 and punch out one mf.

  • justice

    Have convicted thieves work and pay back! being in jail doesn’t compensate the victim, but if criminals had to work hard to repay i am sure the incentive would be much less, and most of all – the victim would be satisfied.

  • Kelly

    I think I will carry a purse with just a bunch of junk in it and a note that reads SUCKER!!!

  • kelly

    I think I will carry a purse with just a bunch of junk in it and a noe that reads SUCKER!!!

  • Kevin

    Poor women. There ought to be another special rights law to protect you from this. Even though stealing and throwing anyone to the ground is already illegal (plus you have extra protection from VAWA laws). Your politicians near to hear from you and you need to demand more special rights. Merry Christmas….

  • WOODSIDE MIKEY

    GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY IF GOV CHRISPY HAS HIS WAY !!!!!THERE WILL NO MONEY TO ROB !!!! LOOK ON YHE BRITE SIDE

    • ouldbollix

      You must be either a teacher or gubmint worker. Don’t know how to remove caps, can’t spell and you are mad as hell.
      Go Christie…. kick the teachers union a$$….

    • Sean Patriot

      Moron

  • MyFreakinEars

    LOUD NOISES!

  • AK

    Thank God there is no ‘shall issue’ concealed carry in New Jersey. The fellow might have gotten hisself shot, and then there would be one less Democratic voter.

    Sure glad I escaped near 40 years ago. Colorado is just fine….he’d get away with maybe two of these here before he became lead-pill aerated….

  • Mel Lingerman

    Classic. It’s a “light-skinned” black or hispanic according to a witness and the news media will not report it. Political-correctness instead of plain sight.

  • bruce arlett

    he is light skin black or hispanic
    he mugged my wife in bloomfield last monday
    don’t know why it has taken so long to get this out, she gave a description of him and the car less than an hour after the assault

  • mary

    provide a description of perpetrator.
    Is he black or brown?
    The color of crime.

    • Carbon Black

      Here is a nifty trick that works way to often!

      If they mention he/she is white, you know the person is white.
      If they go out of their way to not mention race, you know the person is not white.

      pay attention to this in all the main stream media coverage of crimes.

      works like a charm

  • morristhewise

    Talk about hard economic times in the US is propaganda, the safety net provides those at the bottom of the money chain a better standard of living than 75% of the worlds population. Crime not economic hardship is the number one problem of our poorest Americans, many are robbed of their cell phones or mugged after they cash their checks. Homes of our most disadvantaged are frequently burglarized with losses of a TV set and micro wave oven. Better security is needed because the goodies of the poor are not safe from muggers and burglars.

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