An NYPD mounted officer and his horse galloped through the streets of Manhattan's Upper West Side on Wednesday to catch a suspected purse snatcher, and the entire pursuit was captured on bodycam video.
The incident unfolded around 11:06 a.m. on Apr. 15 near West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue. Officer Kyle McLaughlin was patrolling the area when he heard the victim cry out, "Why'd she take my bag!" A witness also alerted the officer that a purse had been stolen from a nearby victim.
McLaughlin, riding his horse named Kelly, immediately took off after the suspect on foot. Bodycam footage released by the NYPD on Thursday shows Kelly's head bobbing up and down as the horse gallops along the sidewalk while the officer repeatedly shouts, "Stop! Stop running!" The suspect, dressed in a white top and black shorts, refused to comply and even denied taking the purse as she fled, according to the New York Times.
The chase weaved through busy city streets, along sidewalks, under scaffolding, between parked cars, and across multiple intersections. The pursuit came to an end when a bystander stepped in and stopped the suspect, allowing McLaughlin to dismount, handcuff the woman, and tell her, "You're being detained." The stolen purse was recovered at the scene.
The suspect was identified as Felicia Field, 44, who is described by police as homeless. She was charged with grand larceny and false personation after she allegedly provided a fake name to officers while being taken into custody, CBS News reported.
Field's criminal background added a serious dimension to the case. According to police and Department of Corrections records, she is currently on lifetime parole stemming from a murder conviction connected to the Apr. 29, 2000, fatal shooting of Manuel Lopez, a 43-year-old livery cab driver, during a botched robbery in Brooklyn.
Field was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to 25 years to life. She was released on parole on Apr. 24, 2025, after serving 24 years.
Since her release, she had already been arrested twice, once for misdemeanor assault and menacing in Brooklyn in February, and again for petty larceny in Manhattan in March, and was released without bail in both instances, as per People.
Originally published on Lawyer Herald
