Woman pushed down flight of church steps in Queens and critically injured
NEW YORK -- The NYPD is looking for a man who pushed a parishioner down a flight of church steps and then robbed her on Sunday morning.
Security video from Saint Demetrios Church in Jamaica, Queens shows a man following a 68-year-old woman at 84-35 152nd St. He surprises her and comes around as she reaches the top of the steps before he violently pushes her.
The woman fell all the way to the ground.
The person is then seen taking her purse, which police say had $300, credit cards, a cellphone and car keys.
She was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.
The church's priest said the congregation is in shock.
"She's a very humble, nice woman, has her faith, family. Hoping and praying she'll recover fully from this," Father Konstantinos Kalogridis said. "I visited her last night in the hospital. She was conscious, alert. I gave her a blessing, gave her Holy Communion. She did her cross. She was able to say, Thank you, I understand.'"
Police said the suspect also took the woman's 2006 Nissan Altima and fled.