Woman punched, robbed of purse during early morning walk

Two women wearing hooded sweat shirts on Sunday beat and robbed a 59-year-old woman of her purse on South Brand Boulevard, police said.

The woman was walking north about 6:20 a.m. on the 1700 block of South Brand Boulevard when two other women suddenly approached from behind and tried to pull the purse away.

She yelled “Don’t, I don’t have anything in there,” but that didn’t stop the women, one of whom struck her in the mouth after the purse strap broke, according to police.

The women, who never used a weapon during the incident, fled south on Brand Boulevard with the purse.

The woman walked to Gold Star Hamburgers on the 1600 block of South Brand Boulevard and called police. Officers searched area, but didn’t find the women.

She had a bruise on the inside of her lower lip, but declined medical attention.

She described the women as about 25 years old, black, short and heavy set, and as wearing dark blue hooded sweat shirts and pants.

Robberies increased slightly from 15 incidents for the first two months last year to 18 for the same period, according to the police department’s monthly crime statistics.

Anyone with details about the robbery may call the Police Department’s Robbery unit at (818) 548-3987.

-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA