After purse-snatching outside west Little Rock store, man chases after thief, recovers property

After a robber made off with an 81-year-old woman's purse outside a west Little Rock store Monday afternoon, a man who witnessed the crime chased after the assailant and recovered her stolen property, police said.

The victim told investigators that she was stopped by a man she didn't know around 2:30 p.m. while she tried to enter a business at 301 S. Bowman Road, a shopping center between Markham Street and Chenal Parkway.

The woman said the robber "stepped between her and the business door," told her she couldn't go inside and then yanked her purse away from her when she asked why, according to a Little Rock Police Department report.

Chris Eads, 32, of Little Rock chased after the robber as he ran north on Bowman Road, the report said. A short time later, the assailant tossed the purse into traffic, where Eads was able to recover it before returning it to the victim, the report said.

Eads said Tuesday he and his fiancee had just gone into Tuesday Morning when he saw the robber, whom he had noticed on the way in, take the purse.

"I didn't really even think," he said. "I just took off running."

Eads estimated he was 15 to 20 feet behind the robber and yelling at him when the thief made the decision to ditch the purse. He stopped chasing then and picked up the purse.

Eads said the victim was rattled but "very, very thankful" when her purse was returned. The robber, who was not located by officers who searched the area, didn't get anything from the purse before he dropped it.

But Eads' iPhone 7 did fall from his pocket during the pursuit. He got it back, but with a shattered screen that he said cost $160 to replace.

"That was the only real casualty," he said.

Eads' fiancee wasn't thrilled he didn't think about his own safety before taking off, Eads said, and even the police on scene told him it wasn't "the smartest decision."

"I've always wondered what I would do" in that type of situation, Eads said. "It's just weird because I didn't think about it. After thinking about it, I've never been in a fight in my entire life. What if that guy turned around and came back at me? Or it's scary to think about if he had a gun or a knife."

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