A 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday for allegedly pushing a 68-year-old woman down the stairs of a Queens church and snatching her purse over the weekend, police said.
Police said the boy was charged with multiple charges, including robbery and assault, in the early Sunday morning attack outside St. Demetrius Greek Orthodox Church in Briarwood.
Surveillance video of the crime showed a young man pushing the victim, identified by her family as Eileen Talianbris, down a flight of stairs.
While she was on the ground, he relentlessly stole her wallet, which contained cash, cell phone, and credit cards, and drove off in her 2006 Nissan Altima.
The boy, whose identity has not been released because he is a minor, was also charged with grand theft and possession of stolen property.
A man who identified himself as a relative of the victim praised the arrest in a social media post Thursday night and urged lawmakers to get tough on the crime.
“For now, these despicable people are off our streets and we are hopeful that this time the system will actually work. “I’m tired of seeing people do it,” Daniel Coffaro-Hill said. I have written.
“This thug is yet another example of petty criminals emboldened to escalate their crimes knowing they will likely get away with a slap on the wrist.” Both appear to lack the urgency to implement the necessary legislative changes to ensure these individuals are held accountable.”
Talianbris remains hospitalized in critical condition, her family said on a GoFundMe page.
After the attack, authorities increased patrols around the church.
“[Parishioners] People are shocked because there have been no such incidents here in our neighborhood,” Father Konstantinos Kalogridis previously said. “There was fear, and when women went through this, they were angry and sad.”
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
