Watch NYPD Mounted Police Officer Chase Convicted Killer After Purse Snatching

An NYPD police officer patrolling on horseback chased down a purse snatching suspect on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, leading to the arrest of a woman later identified as a convicted killer on lifetime parole.

April 17, 2026

3 min read

What to know

An NYPD police officer on horseback chased down and helped arrest a woman accused of snatching a purse on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, dramatic body camera video released Thursday shows.
The suspect is a convicted murderer on lifetime parole who served 24 years in prison for killing a livery cab driver during a 2000 robbery.
The woman, who police say has been repeatedly arrested since her 2025 release from prison, now faces new grand larceny and false personation charges after the stolen purse was recovered.

By Thomas Tracy

Source New York Daily News

An NYPD cop on horseback chased down a convicted killer on lifetime parole who had just swiped a woman’s purse on the Upper West Side, eye-popping bodycam video released by the NYPD shows.

Officer Kyle McLaughlin was patrolling near W. 72nd St. and Columbus Ave. when he heard the victim scream, “Why’d she take my bag!”

The mounted cop galloped after the fleeing crook on his trusty steed Kelly, the officer’s body-worn camera footage released by the NYPD Thursday shows.

“Whether on foot or on hooves, our officers are always ready,” the NYPD said on X

Dressed in a white top and black shorts, the suspect darted between cars and up and down different streets as she tried to escape the mounted cop hot on her heels, the video shows.

“Stop! Stop running!” McLaughlin screamed after her.

When the suspect was finally stopped by a passerby, the cop handcuffed her, telling her she’s “being detained.”

The stolen purse was recovered and Felicia Field, already on lifetime parole for killing a livery cab driver during a botched robbery when she was a teen, was arrested for grand larceny and false personation.

Field, 44, was released from prison just last year after serving a 24-year sentence for the April 29, 2000, slaying. She is currently homeless, according to the NYPD.

Since her release from prison on April 24, 2025, she has been arrested for misdemeanor assault and menacing in Brooklyn on Feb. 17 and petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in Manhattan, near where the arrest took place, on March 23, officials said.

In both cases she was released without bail. It wasn’t immediately clear if steps had been taken to send her back to prison for violating her parole after those arrests.

Field was 18 when she and accomplices Charles Rhodes, 17, and Tyriek Cross, 17, teamed up to rob livery cab driver Cesar Manuel Lopez.

The three were smoking marijuana together in East New York when they decided to rob someone, Field confessed upon her arrest. When they couldn’t find someone to rob in nearby Starrett City, they decided to hold up a cabbie.

The trio got into Lopez’s cab, with Field sitting in the front seat, cops said. As the trio directed Lopez, 42, to drop them off on Elton St. near Flatlands Ave., Field pulled a gun on the cabbie, demanding his money.

Field told police the gun went off accidentally during the robbery, killing Lopez.

The Staten Island father of three was the ninth livery driver slain in the first four months of 2000. His death sparked a firestorm of rage from the city’s fellow livery drivers.

Scores of cab drivers showed up at Lopez’s funeral, bearing signs reading “RIP #80” in their rear windows, noting the slain cab driver’s car number.

Field was convicted of murder, attempted robbery and weapon possession after a two-week trial. Rhodes and Cross pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Her arraignment in the new case was pending Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court.

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