A woman walking near downtown Palo Alto was the victim of a strong-arm robbery on Saturday afternoon. She sustained minor injuries, police said.
The Sept. 28 robbery occurred at about 3:49 p.m. police received a 9-1-1 call from the victim, a woman in her 20s, that she had just been robbed in the 500 block of Middlefield Road. Officers responded to the area immediately, but were not able to locate the suspects.
The victim told police that she had been walking southbound on the west sidewalk when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her hair, and pulled her to the ground. A woman grabbed the victim’s purse and tried to pull it away from her.
The victim pulled back and was able to retrieve her cell phone and some keys from the purse before the woman wrestled it away from her.
The purse contained miscellaneous items of personal property, a wallet, and cash. Both robbers then fled on foot eastbound on Hamilton Avenue from Middlefield Road. No vehicle were seen or heard.
The victim immediately used her cell phone to call 9-1-1 to report the robbery. She told police she had seen the two suspects walking on the sidewalk in the 500 block of University Avenue a short time before the robbery. She sustained a minor abrasion to one of her shoulders that did not require medical treatment at the scene, police said.
The robbers are described as a black male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, and athletic shoes, and a black female wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, and athletic shoes. Both are of average height and build.
Police do not yet know if they will be able to produce suspect sketches. Anyone with information about this robbery can contact the 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.
It is deeply disturbing that such crimes are happening, let alone in broad daylight. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I’m frightened to go out at night alone. What is the solution? Cameras? More police on the streets?