Woman's cane marks on car ID purse-theft suspects
Pennsylvania pizza shop scene of snatch, whack and run
CBC News
Posted: Jun 29, 2011 1:09 PM ET
Last Updated: Jun 29, 2011 3:23 PM ET
An 89-year-old woman in New Castle, Pa., raised some cane while her elderly friend's purse was being snatched and helped nab two suspects in the process.
Police said the woman whacked the trunk of the pair's car when they tried to speed off after stealing her 82-year-old friend's purse outside the Pizza Man's Pizza shop last Friday.
The cane left an imprint in the getaway car that police used to track it down.
"We don’t condone people trying to fend off their attackers, especially if they’re older, but in this case the dent in the car, the description of the car, the things she told us — it did help," police Chief Thomas Sansone told Pittsburgh's WPXI-TV.
The incident began when the two women were getting out of the 82-year-old's car, and a silver car pulled up next to the building pizza shop.
A man approached her and tried to grab her purse. She put up a fight, but the man still wrestled the purse from her while her friend tried to strike him with her cane.
When the man got back into his car, the 89-year-old gave its trunk a few whacks.
Dents matched cane marks
Several tips led police to the vehicle found parked not far from the pizza shop, according to WPXI-TV.
Police say the dents on the car were an exact match to the woman's cane.
Jerry Brown Jr., 27, and his girlfriend, Tatiana Vargas, 21, are charged with robbery, theft, conspiracy and receiving stolen property, police say. They also face charges for similar crimes in North Carolina and Union Township, police say.
The two are being held at the Lawrence County Jail on $25,000 US bond and are expected in court July 6.
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