Lynn elderly mugging victim calls for more cops on streets

LYNN – Eighty-nine-year-old Geneva Sozanski believes there needs to be more police patrolling city streets, in the wake of her mugging last week and ongoing crime concerns in Lynn.Sozanski still remembers the police officer who patrolled her neighborhood when she was growing up.”I remember him well,” she said Tuesday during a visit to The Daily Item. “You could walk at night then, you can’t walk at night anymore.”She praised the Lynn police for their work to arrest the mugging suspect and said she feels relieved now that he is being held without bail.”Of course, so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else,” she said when asked about how the arrest made her feel.Police arrested Nicholas Christian, 30, of 7 Hammond St. last Thursday and charged him with unarmed robbery, unarmed robbery of a person over 60 and assault and battery on a person over 60-serious injury.There is a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Christian in Superior Court on Nov. 30.Several city councilors have also called for increased police foot patrols after the mugging, two bank robberies and a gang round-up – all of which have happened in the past three weeks.The Lynn woman suffered serious injuries to her face, hands and left leg, which required stitches.Those injuries were still visible Tuesday, but Sozanski said she is recovering from the assault she endured last week and remains overwhelmed by the support she has received from friends and strangers since the news of her ordeal broke.”I’m feeling much better. I still have my aches and pains, but it’s no big deal,” Sozanski said.She said she has received more than 100 cards, along with flowers from people in the community, proving to her that there are “good people” out there.”I have 10 beautiful vases of flowers,” Sozanski said Tuesday.