Woman, 25, Is Slashed in Mugging at South Street Seaport

Screenshot from video surveillance, supplied by the NYPD, shows suspect in robbery and slashing of a woman on Water Street.

Police are looking for a suspect in the mugging and slashing of a 25-year-old woman in the Seaport area Monday evening.

The victim, Melissa Leslie, was walking in front of 217 Water Street at 7:45 p.m. when she felt a tug on her purse and saw a knife being held to her throat. Told to give up her purse, the woman complied, then was slashed on the back of her right hand as the mugger fled westbound on Beekman Street, according to police. She was taken to New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital where she received nine stitches for the laceration.

"At first I thought it was someone I knew playing a joke on me," Leslie told ABC 7 [1]. "And then I saw he pulled out a knife."

Police describe the suspect as a white male, approximately 30-years-old, 5-foot, 8-inches tall, 160 pounds, wearing a dark blue hoodie, blue jeans, black shoes, and possibly a dark cap. (See NYPD video below.)

Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).  Tips can also be submitted by logging onto nypdcrimestoppers.com [2] or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. Police say all calls are strictly confidential.