An NYPD officer on horseback galloped after a woman accused of swiping a purse on the Upper West Side on Thursday, turning an ordinary afternoon into a brief street spectacle. Police say the chase wrapped up near West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, after the mounted officer cut across a busy street and then rode down a crowded sidewalk to intercept the suspect. Video shows the officer shouting commands as the horse closed in and other units moved to assist, before the woman was led away in handcuffs. The fast-moving encounter drew a crowd and clips later circulated on local outlets.
Video shows mounted chase
Police-released footage captured the mounted officer galloping across West 72nd Street and barreling down the sidewalk after the fleeing woman, according to the New York Post. In the clip, an officer can be heard yelling, “Police, stop! Stop running!” as pedestrians quickly move out of the way and the horse closes the distance. The rapid response briefly tangled foot traffic on the avenue until patrol cars arrived and officers secured the scene.
Who police say they arrested
Authorities identified the suspect as 44-year-old Felicia Field. Court filings and a federal memorandum show Field was convicted in connection with the April 2000 fatal shooting of a cab driver and was sentenced in 2001 to concurrent terms that included a 25-years-to-life term, according to Justia. That history has been cited in coverage of Thursday’s arrest and has helped refuel questions about how parole and street-level enforcement intersect in New York City.
Charges and arraignment
Police charged Field with grand larceny and false impersonation after the reported purse-snatching, and the New York Post reports she was arraigned and released on her own recognizance. The New York Post also noted that Field had been paroled in 2025 after serving time for the earlier homicide conviction. Coverage of the bust highlighted a police tweet praising the NYPD Mounted Unit that read, “Whether on foot or on hooves, our officers are always ready,” a bit of social media swagger layered onto a very old-school style of policing.
Mounted unit and policing context
The NYPD’s mounted officers are a familiar sight at parades, protests and busy commercial corridors, where they are often deployed for crowd control and a highly visible presence. The department typically uses standardbred horses trained to tolerate city noise, traffic and curious pedestrians, according to a behind-the-scenes look at the unit. That reporting describes how horses and riders train at the Pelham Bay facility before taking on regular street patrols in Manhattan. Thursday’s chase underscored how, in the right moment, a horse can sometimes navigate packed sidewalks faster than officers on foot.
Neighborhood concerns
Residents and local reporters have been tracking what they describe as an uptick in purse snatchings and shoplifting complaints on the Upper West Side, with community data showing spikes in petit larceny in parts of the 20th Precinct earlier this year, according to West Side Rag. Those numbers have increased pressure on police to maintain a more visible presence along neighborhood shopping corridors, a point some residents echoed after Thursday’s mounted arrest. The dramatic footage of a horse thundering down the sidewalk is likely to keep the local debate over policing tactics and public safety very much alive.
