Purse Snatcher

This evening, I went shoe shopping, running shoe shopping that is, down at Fleet Feet on Chestnut St. As I was walking back to my car, this guy comes bounding out of a restaurant, jaunts across the street, and yells at this older, somewhat innocent looking woman: Give that purse back!

The woman's eyes drop to the ground, the purse falls from her hands, and she quickly disappears into the crowd of Marina strollers, labradors and otherwise self-absorbed populace.

A small crowd had gathered as the heroic man returned with the purse in hand. People had questions like, "Was she really stealing the purse?" "Is that woman the purse snatcher?"

The funniest part was that there were two cops sitting in the window seats of the Noah's, with a clear view of the entire episode and nary a budge. They must have been lost in a moment of profound enjoyment of their everything-veggie-schmear. And by the time the witnesses alerted them to what had happened, the deviant little granny was gone.

I had some deep thoughts on the way home. I thought that for every act of wrong-doing, there is an act of good. And even in the Marina, there are people who take a look outside of their racing goggles and notice when something is amiss (but I'd like to believe that this guy was from Nopa).

When I got home, I did some research and found out that this purse snatcher has actually been at large in the community for some time. She's hit the Mission, the Castro (lots of purses there, ladies!), SOMA, and now The Marina. She takes purses that are hanging off the backs of chairs and then goes to Bloomingdales to buy...a new purse? Too bad the cops were in the middle of their afternoon snack; otherwise today would have been the day that we cracked the crime. For now, keep an eye on your bag and don't go anywhere without your own personal hero.