A disturbing video is going viral this week showing a group of teenagers brutally assaulting a 74-year-old woman in broad daylight in New York City. Now, the NYPD is asking the public for help in tracking down the perpetrators of this vicious and senseless attack.

The assault occurred just before 7 p.m. on September 3 in the East Village, when a teenager snatched a woman’s purse on a busy sidewalk on East 14th Street. Security footage shows the elderly woman try to get her purse back from the teen, only to be punched in the face by him. She then collapses to the ground as bystanders look on and do nothing.

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The teenager who grabbed the purse proceeds to drop it and flee with his friends.

“Although the victim sustained bruising and swelling to her face and cuts and scrapes to her hands she refused medical attention,” the NYPD said, according to WNYW.

The NYPD went on to add that the three suspects —two males and one female— are black and between the ages of 14 and 18. Police have asked anyone with information about the perpetrators to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), on the Crime Stoppers website at NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or via Twitter: @NYPDTips.

This comes after New York City experienced a disturbing spike in crimes over the summer. On Wednesday, the NYPD released the crime statistics for August, reflecting a 166% increase in shootings in the Big Apple compared to last year. There were 53 murders in New York City compared to 39 in August of 2019, an increase of 47%. In addition, robberies were up 4%, and burglaries increased by 22%.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced back in June that he would be “shifting funds” away from the New York Police Department.

“We committed to move resources from the NYPD to youth and social services as part of our City’s budget,” de Blasio said at the time. He pledged that police funding could be cut while still keeping the city safe, but he has clearly not followed through with that.