A homeless man charged with stealing an elderly woman’s cane outside a Manhattan Target was held on bail Saturday afternoon following his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Kurtis Mcvae, 36, sprung up from sitting on the pavement in front of the store on Thursday around 3:15 p.m. at Union Square East at E. 14th St. in Union Square as an 88-year-old woman came walking by with her home health aide, prosecutors alleged. He grabbed the woman’s arm, trying to yank away her purse and cane, they said.
A good Samaritan approached and tried to get Mcvae to let go of his grasp, but he refused, resulting in the elderly woman falling to the sidewalk during the struggle.
Medics brought the victim to Lenox Hill Hospital in stable condition.
Mcvae took off with the woman’s cane, fleeing north through Union Square Park, police said.
The victim’s home health aide took a photo of Mcvae that identified his clothes while the Samaritan provided a description of him to detectives. Detectives created a wanted flyer after they located video of Mcvae from the incident.
Mcvae was arrested Friday and charged with robbery. He has six prior arrests, with charges including petit larceny and possession of a controlled substance, police said.
In addition, he was convicted as a sex offender in Oregon and previously failed to register as such in Wisconsin, according to the Raine County eye.
Judge Felicia Mennin ordered Mcvae to be held on $7,500 cash bail, $25,000 insurance company bond and $30,000 partially secured surety bond after prosecutors noted that Mcvae had three failures to appear in court. He’s due back in court on Feb. 26.
