*Houston police have arrested the teenager who body-slammed a mother of three during a robbery, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
Joseph Harrell, 17, committed the heinous act that was caught on surveillance camera, and his partner in crime, Zy’Nika Woods, 19, reportedly followed the victim in a car for more than 20 miles on Feb. 13, ABC13 News reports.
We reported previously that Nhung Truong, 44, had withdrawn over $4000 cash from a Bank of America on Blackhawk Boulevard before driving 24 miles to her next location, the 9800 block of Bellaire, Newsweek reports.
“It is probable that the suspect(s) were watching the bank and followed the victim to her next location,” police said.
READ MORE: Over $70k Raised for Woman Left Paralyzed by Thief During Robbery | Video
UPDATE: Joseph Harrell, 17, and Zy’Nika Ayesha Woods, 19, have both been charged with Aggravated Robbery with Serious Bodily Injury for the violent robbery at a Houston ATM that left a Vietnamese woman paralyzed. The attack damaged Nhung Truong’s spinal cord leaving her… https://t.co/5pDb2r1U8S pic.twitter.com/d6zOoQdoWH
— Southern Man (@MagicBelle1) March 18, 2023
Harrell attacked the woman in front of a shopping center and the assault was captured on surveillance video. The footage was released by the Houston Police Department and shows the man’s violent assault on Truong before running off with her money.
When he realized he grabbed the wrong envelope, the robber ran back to Truong and body-slammed her onto the ground. He then grabbed the envelope containing the cash and fled the scene. Harrell reportedly made off with about $4,300, money Truong had been saving up for a trip to visit family in Vietnam.
Truong’s spinal cord was damaged in the attack, which left her unable to walk. She now needs round-the-clock care, according to her daughter Linh Thuy Duong on a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds to cover medical costs.
The robber “hit her so hard that it resulted in a severe spinal cord injury,” Duong wrote.
“The doctors say that this injury has affected my mother’s left leg, currently making her a disabled person.”
Duong said her mother’s recovery could take more than two years.
“When I saw it, it just made me mad as hell,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said about the video during a news conference on Friday. “Slammed her down like she was a bag of potatoes.”
Harrell’s bond has reportedly been set at $200,000 and Woods’s bond is set at $50,000.
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