Pregnant Woman Chases Armed Robber After Being Mugged

A pregnant woman walking with her 1-year-old daughter in Brooklyn chased after an armed robber who had taken her iPhone.

Rachel Massey had her daughter in a stroller near McCarren Park at about 5 p.m. Tuesday when she was approached by a teenage boy with a black handgun.

"He just walked over and he asked me for my phone, and I noticed he had a gun at his waist," she says.

Massey, who is four months pregnant, said that after she handed over the phone, she left her daughter with her sister and chased after the mugger.

"Every mom out there is wondering, 'What was she thinking running after this guy?'" she said, saying she had an immediate "mama bear instinct" to chase the robber down.

"I was basically thinking, 'I want to see which way he's going and I want someone to catch him.'"

Massey describes her mugger as about 16 years old. A man in the park also chased the boy and persuaded him to give back the phone before he fled.

Deputy Inspector Terence Hurson said gunpoint robberies were unusual on the street in the 94th precinct, but similar stories have surfaced around the park and on message boards, including BrooklynBabyHUI.

One mother wrote that a man on a bicycle snatched her phone on Driggs Avenue Thursday while she was with her daughter in a stroller. 

Massey said she's poured over digital lineups at the local precinct, but so far the boy has not been found.

 
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