A woman has been left partially paralysed after a mugger picked her up and slammed her into the ground.
Nhung Truong, 44, had been at the bank to get out about $4,300 (£3,500) for an upcoming trip to see her family who she hadn’t seen in nearly six years.
Nhung Truong has been unable to use one of her legs since she was assaulted by a man on Feb. 13 after withdrawing the large sum of cash from a bank, according to relatives and Houston police.
Truong, 44, was followed to a shopping center 24 miles away from the bank, where the suspect approached her and tried to make off with the money, authorities said.
“We have to pay rent and stuff and she’s the only one that can work and help us. We don’t know what to do”
Says family
In CCTV footage released by the police, the victim can be seen walking along a covered area by some shops before being approached by a man in a red hoody.
He grabs her and they struggle before she falls to the ground dropping the things she was holding.
The man grabs what he thought was the money and begins to run away before realising that he had the wrong envelope.
She dropped some of her personal items during the struggle with the man. The thief took off with one item before quickly returning, lifting Truong off the ground and ruthlessly slamming her into the pavement before he ran off with the money, police said.
But even worse, Truong’s spinal cord was damaged in the attack and she is unable to use her left leg, she and her family told.
“They don’t know when my leg can walk again,” Truong said through her daughter.
“It’s not a big loss of the money,” her daughter Linh Duong told the station. “The big loss is her leg.”
Truong is a single mother of three and came to the US from Vietnam. The victim’s mother explained her daughter has already had a tough life, losing her husband to liver cancer seven years ago
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