NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 12-year-old girl who was dragged down a Queens street by serial chain-snatchers on a moped spoke out after police released video of the shocking robbery.
“They’re the worst human beings alive, just to put a 12-year-old girl in that position,” Julie Montiel told reporters outside her home Monday.
Montiel was walking home from school on Layton Street in Elmhurst around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 when the men rode up behind her on a moped. She said she’d noticed them following her for blocks before the robbery.
Video released by the NYPD on Monday captured the moment the two men grabbed the chain from around her neck and dragged her down the sidewalk. She suffered injuries to her neck, face, elbow and legs.
“It happened fast, I didn’t feel when I was getting dragged, like I only cared about the necklace,” Montiel said.
She said she tried to hold onto the necklace because it had sentimental value—her mom gave matching necklaces to her and her sister when they were younger. “It was really special,” she said of the jewelry, which was ultimately stolen by the crooks.
The chain-snatching was the first of at least seven robberies the NYPD has linked to the men since late October.
The men struck four more times on Oct. 26. In the first attack that day, they punched a 37-year-old woman in the face and grabbed her necklace at 34th Avenue and 103rd Street in North Corona around 2:20 p.m.
Ten minutes later, a 43-year-old woman was walking at 31st Avenue and 76th Street in Jackson Heights when the men shoved her and snatched two necklaces from her neck.
Then at 7 p.m., a 52-year-old man was walking at 75th Street and Woodside Avenue in Elmhurst when the men snatched his necklace and took off.
In the fourth robbery that day, the men snatched a necklace off a 35-year-old woman at 73rd Street and 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights around 7:50 p.m.
The men struck again around 3 p.m. on Oct. 27, snatching a necklace off a 70-year-old woman at 77th Street and 34th Avenue in Elmhurst.
The most recent robbery was last Monday at Penrod Street and Otis Avenue in Corona. A 48-year-old woman was walking around 12:45 p.m. when the men stole her necklace and fled.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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