COOKEVILLE,
Tenn. - A mid-state grandmother was pushed to the ground and hit
repeatedly by a man who stormed into her home looking for prescription drugs.
The 72-year-old is known in her Cookeville community as the
neighborhood grandmother. After seeing this friendly, inviting woman, it's hard to
believe anyone would want to hurt her, but just days ago, while on the phone
with her niece and cleaning her back room, she was attacked.
When Hancock opened her door, she said the man was standing right on
the steps. She said he had his faced covered and something over his head. The
only thing she could see was his eyes. The first thing he asked her was, "Do
you have any pills?"
"I kept telling him I didn't have none, so he started
slapping me. He slapped me down. I don't know how many times on this side of my
face, he knocked my glasses off," said Hancock.
All while this was happening, Hancock's niece Erna Buck was on the
phone.
"That's when she went ballistic. She said, 'Lord Erna, he
done knocked me down and slapped me. Slap my glasses off my face,'" said
Buck.
Buck says she told her aunt not to hang up the phone while she
called 911 from her cell phone.
"They had to be either on crack or meth or they got paid to
do that," said Buck.
Police showed up, but the crook got away. Hancock is doing well,
but she is still worried for her safety and says now it's time for her to move
on.
The man who forced his way into Hancock home also got away with
$300 in cash.
