Mounted NYPD officer on horseback chases purse thief through Manhattan

A purse snatch on the Upper West Side turned into a rare Midtown-style street chase with a very New York twist: an NYPD officer on horseback pursued the suspect through sidewalk traffic and into the street before making the arrest with help from a witness. The horse, Kelly, carried the officer just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 15, near West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, in front of a Chase Bank.

Police said the victim’s purse was taken on the block and the suspect ran on foot. Video and local accounts show the mounted officer closing the gap as pedestrians looked on, a scene that spread quickly because it blended an everyday city crime with a highly visible public-order response. The purse was recovered and the suspect was apprehended at the end of the pursuit.

Authorities identified the suspect as Felicia Field, 44, who was charged with grand larceny and false personation, though some reports used the wording false impersonation. The arrest drew added attention because local reporting linked Field to a serious criminal history, including parole tied to a 2000 Brooklyn case involving murder, attempted robbery and weapon possession. Other records cited in coverage indicated a prior second-degree murder conviction.

The chase also underscored why the NYPD still deploys mounted officers in dense neighborhoods. CBS New York said the department’s mounted unit has operated since 1858 and remains one of the largest in the country, with troops in four of the five boroughs. In practice, the unit is used not only for patrol and arrests but for visibility, crowd management and community contact in places where an officer on foot can be harder to spot and a cruiser can be harder to move.

That visibility can be a strength and a flashpoint. At least one bystander objected during the arrest, warning about the risk to people and the horse, a reminder that public confidence in policing often turns on how force is seen in real time. In this case, the image that traveled fastest was also the point: a mounted officer, in the middle of Manhattan traffic, stopping a theft in plain view and signaling that specialized patrols still have a role in a crowded city.