VIDEO: Man Attacks 10-Year-Old Girl, Steals Her Cellphone In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A 10-year-old girl was thrown to the floor and kicked in the face – all for her cellphone, police say.
It happened around 4:50 p.m. on May 25 as the victim was entering her building near Holland Avenue and Pelham Parkway North in the Bronx.
Police said a man followed her into the vestibule, grabbed the girl's phone and violently attacked her.
She had been using the iPhone 7+ to FaceTime with her mom on her way home from a deli across the street.
"I was talking to her on the phone... I thought it was kids playing downstairs," the girl's mother told CBS2's Reena Roy. "She was coming out of the elevator crying. She starts telling me, 'mommy they steal me, mommy they steal me.'"
Police said the girl was in stable condition, but her glasses broke.
"She was bleeding, she had some bruises, and she said, 'mommy, they broke my favorite glasses," her mom said.
"I just let her breathe for a few minutes and then I start talking to her. She told me, 'mommy, they steal your phone, mommy they steal what I purchased.' I'm like, 'that's fine, I just want you to tell me who did it,'" she continued. "I was mad because she's 10 years old... I'm still mad, I'm still mad, if I'm being honest, I'm still mad. But I just have to be strong enough for her."
As the girl heals physically, her mom said she's also struggling emotionally.
"She's still pretty scared to go outside by herself," she said.
"Kind of scares me, because I come downstairs to come pick up stuff, for like my mom and stuff, and this is kind of dangerous now," said a neighbor.
Anyone with any information about the attack is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-700-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website, or by texting a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.
