Robbers attacking women, stealing purses

One South Side victim was thrown to the ground.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two women in their 70s are among those robbed in the latest round of purse snatchings.
A 75-year-old Early Road woman told police that she was about to enter her car at the Stop and Shop on Oak Street on Wednesday afternoon when a light-skinned black man in his mid-30s and dressed all in black pushed her against her car and grabbed her purse. The suspect, described as 6 foot 2 inches and 200 pounds with unshaven stubble, fled toward Lansdowne Boulevard on the East Side.
The purse contained a checkbook, credit cards, cell phone, driver's license, Social Security card, pill box and $200, reports show.
Several purse snatchings have been reported in the past few weeks in the city and surrounding communities. Police say it's a case of thieves taking advantage of vulnerable victims.
Another robbery
Earlier Wednesday, a 71-year-old East Boston Avenue woman walking in the area of Florida Avenue and Erie Street on the South Side was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground by a black man in his 30s who then jumped on top of her, police said. The man, described as 5 foot 9 inches and 170 pounds, was wearing brown pants and coat and a red knit hat.
The suspect told the woman to give him money or he would do something terrible to her. He then took a wallet that had $15 to $17 in it and ran south toward Erie Street.
The victim suffered a cut to her left eye and complained of injury to her left side and abdominal area. She was taken for hospital treatment.
Around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, police were sent to McBride Street on the East Side to check out a robbery report. A 29-year-old Delaware Avenue woman said she pulled into a parking lot and began to walk toward an apartment with her child when her purse was snatched by a man she knows only as "P."
The robber ran back to a Pontiac Grand Am and drove off. The victim said she had $150, a driver's license and credit card in the purse.
A Lowellville woman's purse with $70 in it was reported stolen Wednesday afternoon from a car parked in a store lot in the 2900 block of McCartney Road, also on the East Side, reports show. The store wasn't identified in reports.
The 45-year-old victim told police she believes the thief may have been her estranged husband. The car's windshield was broken and the right rear tire flattened.