Exclusive: Woman Randomly Punched By Stranger While Sitting In Her Car Speaks Out
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman assaulted by a stranger is talking about the attack.
It started as the victim was sitting in her car in the Bronx.
Now, police are searching for suspects.
The victim said she was in her car on Featherbed Lane when a stranger approached and punched her in the face. She said she then got out of the car to take down the license plate number of her alleged attacker's car, and it escalated from there.
"I have glasses, so I started bleeding immediately from my nose and my face," Yvette Morales told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis.
Morales, 65, walked DeAngelis through the moments that left her bloody and begging for help on Sept. 27, at around 6 p.m.
Morales explained she was double parked on Featherbed Lane, waiting for a parking spot to grab groceries, when a woman approached her. The woman was yelling.
"I opened up the window because I thought she was asking something. She was taking pictures. She gets out of the car, comes over and punches me in the face," Morales said.
Morales said that's when she got out of her car to take down the license plate information and was attacked again.
"A man grabbed me from the back, my neck, and he dragged me and he said to me 'Where the f--- do you think you're going?''" she said.
Investigators released an image of the man they're looking for. Morales said she had never seen the man and woman before. He allegedly got in a dark green GMC Yukon with the female suspect and drove off.
Morales said people witnessed the attack.
"Astonished. It was at 6 o'clock in the evening and no one assisted," she said.
Thankfully, she went into a nearby store, where she said a worker helped her by calling police. That woman asked we hide her identity for safety.
"I didn't see anything, but the lady, she came, she said, 'I don't have a phone, please help me. Can you call 911?' I said OK. I called, but she came ... her face was all blood, her eyes were bruises, like someone hit her," she told DeAngelis.
The victim refused medical attention at the scene. She said she doesn't know if the suspects took anything from her car. She has been focused on healing.
"You're dealing with individuals who have no understanding of empathy or sympathy," Morales said.
Both suspects are believed to be in their 30s. The woman was allegedly wearing slippers, which made the victim believe she could live nearby.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
You can get the latest news, sports and weather on our brand new CBS New York app. Download here.
