Woman Loses Purse In Midtown Robbery

A lone street robber grabbed a woman's purse Wednesday night in the Midtown neighborhood of Palo Alto and fled with its contents.

According to Palo Alto Police, about 9:40 p.m. a woman in her fifties was walking on the east side of Middlefield Road, just south of Oregon Expressway. A man approximately 5' 8" tall approached the woman from behind and snatched her purse.

She tried to pull it back, but was unable to keep the robber from taking it. He ran down the sidewalk and got into a vehicle waiting in a traffic lane on Middlefield Road.

The woman watched the vehicle speed away eastbound on Oregon Expressway.

In the incident, she suffered pain to her elbow and back, but did not require medical attention.

She describes the suspect as a male wearing dark clothing and a dark knit wool skullcap. She was unable to provide to police a race or age of the suspect. The woman described the vehicle as being small and dark-colored.

Her purse contained miscellaneous personal property. At the time of the robbery, she was walking home after shopping at the 7-Eleven store on Colorado Avenue and at the Walgreens drug store located at 2605 Middlefield Road.

Police urge people to remain aware of their surroundings when out for walks, and report suspicious behavior immediately to 9-1-1.

They are asking anyone having information about this robbery to contact their 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413.

Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message to 650-383-8984.

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