An 88-year-old woman was violently beaten inside her apartment and then robbed of $5,000 that she had spent two years saving to pay for her late husband’s headstone, police said.
Police said Maximina Osorio was coming home to her East Village apartment Saturday morning when a man pushed her inside after she unlocked her door and demanded, "Where's the money?" WPIX reported.
"He kept pushing me from here to over there," Osorio told WCBS. "And I told him: 'Don't bother me. I've got asthma.' I've got chronic asthma. My lungs are very bad."
She yelled out for help but the man punched and shoved her to the floor, WCBS reported.
"He told me to 'Shut up! Shut up! And don't scream!' So he (kept) me like that and I can't breath," she told WCBS.
The man, who is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and 160 pounds, then went into her closet, grabbed the $5,000 and ran off. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a blue hoodie, blue T-shirt, white backpack and a black and blue Philadelphia Flyers hat, WNBC reported.
Osorio, who has lived in the building for 30 years, had recently mentioned to some people that she was finally ready to buy the headstone for her husband, who died two years ago, NY1 reported.
Osorio was in the hospital for three days recovering from her injuries. She is still concerned about head trauma but is expected to be OK, WPIX reported.
Osorio now is forced to start saving again for the headstone. A GoFundMe account was set up to help.
Despite the ordeal, Osorio considers herself fortunate.
"Thank God," she told WCBS. "Thank God they don't do anything to me, because the money, don't care. The money, I can make it. But my life?"
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