Hell No ... I was fighting for what was mine.

[Hook686]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_fe_st/odd_purse_snatcher_thwarted

83-year-old woman foils purse snatcher Sat Mar 15, 5:59 AM ET



SANTA FE, N.M. - An 83-year-old great-grandmother thwarted a would-be purse snatcher with a gas nozzle and an iron grip.

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Bernie Garcia said a young man approached her at a gas station as she was buying fuel for her van and asked for money. When she told him she had spent all her spare change on gas, he tried to grab her purse.

"But I had it wrapped around my wrist twice," Garcia said, and he was unable to pull it away.

She fought back, spraying his shirt with some gasoline. Both of them kept hold of the purse, and he pulled her to the ground and dragged her a short distance until another man confronted him.

The second man demanded, "Turn her loose, you something something," Garcia said.

The would-be mugger jumped into a nearby vehicle and fled. But a witness got the license plate number, and minutes later, police stopped the car. It had been reported stolen from Espanola, said Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Aric Wheeler.

Garcia and a witness identified one of the men inside as the attacker. He and two other men in the car were charged with robbery and conspiracy.

"They got caught and I'm so glad," Garcia said.

She said she felt fine after the attack, and police say she declined medical attention at the scene. But when she got home, she said, she felt faint and went to bed and woke up Thursday very sore. Her son, a former firefighter, checked her out and found no broken bones.

"My son said, `Why didn't you just give (the purse) up?'" Garcia said. "`Hell no,' I told him. That was my purse. I was fighting for what was mine."

Life is sometimes a joy to behold.

 

[BruceRDucer]

the location

Hook:

I thought it of interest that this was a gas station. These and convenience stores, I am guessing, are a common location for confrontations.

What a determined lady!

 

[rantingredneck]

I saw this on the news Fri morning in McDonalds when I was having coffee. In the interview she said something to the effect that he was a "skinny punk" and she could "take him any day of the week". Spunky lady for sure.

Glad to see people defending themselves even if it's just with a gas nozzle.

 

[RLsnow]

I`m both very glad she is okay and a bit sad that when someone stands up for themselves, people often get surprised :O

-How come he gets to get up!?
-Thats right, come along
-If he gets up, well all get up! it`l be anarchy!!

 

[Jeff F]

My buddy was working in a full service gas station many years ago when a guy tried to rob him with a big knife. He was filling up a car at the time and he pulled that gas nozzle out and let fly over a gallon of regular leaded and at the same time popped open his Zippo and said "you make one move and I will light you up like a roman candle". The guy that was getting his car filled up went inside the office and called the cops who showed up pretty quick and took the bad guy into custody but they had to call the fire department to come down and hose the bad guy off.

 

[romma]

You mean she didn't just "give him what he wants"?

this 83 yr old non-conformist must have missed the memo...

 

[Standing Wolf]

Every time we comply with a criminal's demands, we merely encourage all criminals to enlarge the scope of their predations.

Every time we resist a criminal, we make all criminals fear us a little more.

 

[Werewolf]

Good on 'er...

That said:

She fought back, spraying his shirt with some gasoline.

at that point stepping back a few feet and tossing a match would have ended the confrontation right then and there. She's 83 - he's young. Disparity of force and all.

 

[TCB in TN]

`Why didn't you just give (the purse) up?'"

Some people still understand that when you give evil what it wants you just encourage MORE evil! Good for her, I just wish more of my generation was as tough!

 

[Kind of Blued]

"She then knocked the thief to the ground and stood with her orthopaedic shoe on his face smoking a Misty Light 120 until the police arrived, telling the man that she would "use your sorry @$$ as an ashtray if you move".

Thats the only way this story could have been better... with that lady from the Schwarzennegger flick, "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot".

Good work m'am!

 

[Blackbeard]

Thats the only way this story could have been better... with that lady from the Schwarzennegger flick, "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot".

It was Stallone, but good point.