VIDEO: Queens woman, 60, knocked unconscious by crooks who then stole her SUV
By Emma Seiwell; Rocco Parascandola
May 14 at 12:46 PM ET
A 60-year-old woman was knocked unconscious in front of her Queens apartment building by five crooks who emptied her pockets and stole her SUV, shocking video shows.
Debbie Villanueva, who recently moved to Rockaway Beach from Brooklyn, was attacked unloading groceries as she spoke on her iPhone with her sister.
“I’m just in a lot of pain right now,” Villanueva told the Daily News Tuesday morning.
Villanueva, who recently moved from Brooklyn to Rockaway Beach, parked her Nissan Rogue outside her building on Beach 96th St. near Rockaway Beach Blvd. about 11:30 p.m. Friday.
But before she could get to the entrance of her building she was approached by two men who approached from across the street with three others.
Villanueva “immediately knew what was going to happen” and told her sister to call 911, she told ABC7 New York.
Villanueva moved away from the steps in a failed attempt to dodge the suspect closest to her.
Video shows that suspect pulling at her belongings. She moved to her right, but then the same man clocked her on the left side of her head.
Villanueva fell to the ground, struck her head on the sidewalk and lost consciousness.
At that point, the man who punched her and the second suspect tore through her pockets, stealing her phone, $90 cash and the keys to her Rogue, which they all took off in.
The SUV was later found in Brownsville, police said, but the attackers are still being sought.
“This could have happened to anybody,” Villanueva told ABC7 New York. “I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She suffered a concussion, with doctors needing staples to close the gash on her head. She was on painkillers and still recovering Tuesday morning.
“I’m grateful just to be OK,” she told ABC7 New York.
“Emotionally I don’t know yet. I’m gonna be honest with you I don’t know if it has hit me yet. But I’m gonna take it one day at a time. What else can I do?”
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