MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Police in Memphis are looking for a man who robbed an elderly woman in her own driveway. The 71-year-old woman was beaten with a tire iron while fighting the robber for 15 minutes on Friday, March 24th.
"I can't believe I made it through that fight," Patsy Whitten said.
The 71-year-old with osteoarthritis, trouble breathing and a herniated disc made it through the horrifying ordeal that took place in front of the home she's live in for 22 years.
On Friday morning, a man robbed and beat Whitten in her own driveway in the 6600 block of Steeple Chase in Memphis, Tennessee. The weapon of choice was a tire iron.
"I got a bruise right here, from the tire iron," Whitten said.
After the nearly 15-minute struggle with the robber, Whitten had purple and red bruises on her arm, leg and chest. Whitten said she arrived home from a casino, and when she stepped out of her truck, the man appeared.
"I said, 'you followed me. You had to.' He pulled out that tire iron and grabbed it in his hand and drew back and was gonna hit me in the head and I grabbed it," Whitten said.
She never stopped fighting.
"Of course, I was fighting for my life, and he kept telling me he was going to kill me," Whitten said.
The masked man was still able to take away Whitten's credit cards, driver's license and $400 in cash -- Whitten's winnings from the casino.
"'I can't believe you are doing this to a 71-year-old woman'. He says 'I don't give a F how old you are,'" Whitten said.
Despite losing her money, Whitten said she was happy to be alive, and said she'll be packing heat from this point forward.
"I was the winner because I'm not dead. If it happened to me, it can happen to anybody," Whitten said.
Investigators said the attacker drove away in a gray Chevrolet. They're asking anyone who may have information about this attack to call the Shelby County sheriff.