Cyclist fights off muggers with her Winnie the Pooh Stanley cup: ‘I was always a fighter’

NEW YORK (WABC) - A New York woman fought off three men who tried to rob her while she was cycling in Central Park. She says her helmet, bag and Winnie the Pooh-themed Stanley cup helped her survive the attack.

Katherine Marroquin, 32, was riding her bike just before 10 p.m. last Sunday on her after-work commute through Central Park. She stopped after dropping her AirPods, and three men suddenly appeared from behind some bushes.

“They were hiding somewhere. It was really dark, and they waited for me to lean down and wait, and then, they appeared,” Marroquin said. “I think they were trying to steal phones, maybe, and they just saw me, saw the bike. They were like, ‘Oh, money.’”

Marroquin says the men struck her in the head, surrounded her and started going through her belongings. One of the men threw her stainless steel Stanley cup, which has a Winnie the Pooh design, on the ground in front of her.

Marroquin says she grabbed the tumbler from the ground and used it to defend herself.

“It’s three people by myself. I got to defend myself. I didn’t think about money or anything. I thought about my life and seeing my mom again. So, I grabbed the cup, and I hit one of the guys in the head,” she said.

The men soon ran off, taking her book bag with them.

Marroquin’s only injury was a cut next to her eye that was already there but reopened during the fight. She says her bag and helmet absorbed much of the attack.

Reflecting on the confrontation, Marroquin says she was determined not to surrender what she had worked for.

“I was always a fighter since I was little, you know? So, I feel like it’s unfair for people to come in and think that they could take whatever you work for. You know, I feel like it’s not fair,” she said.

The irony of all this is that Marroquin just started biking to work last year because she thought that would be safer than taking the subway.

“This is the reason why I started riding the bike because the subway was very dangerous,” she said.

The New York Police Department has released surveillance images of the people who are wanted in connection to the robbery. So far, there have been no arrests.