‘I Think They're Scum': Police Search For Purse Thief After Brutal Attack on 94-Year-Old

The woman suffered a concussion, a black eye and broken ribs, according to family

A 94-year-old woman was attacked in her home Thursday by a man who fled in a stolen car before crashing it and eluding police, authorities confirmed.

Josephine Regnier, a mother and grandmother of 6, was walking into her Garfield Ridge home around noon Wednesday when she was attacked. She suffered a concussion, a black eye and broken ribs, family told NBC5.

“I don’t know why he didn’t just steal her purse, why he had to do that to her,” said Judy Dusk, Regnier’s daughter.

Surveillance video from Villa Rosa Pizza on the 5700 block of South Archer Avenue shows the suspect crashing a stolen getaway car minutes after the attack.

“It was terrible, just a senseless crime,” Villa Rosa Pizza owner Tommy Pieprzyca told NBC5.

Police and Regnier’s family are hoping someone will recognize the man in the surveillance video and come forward.

“I think they’re scum, I think they’re desperate,” Dusk said. “How can they do that to another human being, let alone a vulnerable 94-year-old woman?”

“It’s disgusting,” she said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the victim.

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