Good Samaritan Tackles Alleged Purse Thief In Boston
BOSTON (CBS) - A good Samaritan is credited with catching a victim's mugger in busy Downtown Crossing.
Jeff Swanson heard a woman screaming as he left work Wednesday around 5:30 p.m.
"I saw some guy running up the middle of the street and his hands were full. I didn't think much of it and then I saw a woman probably 20 yards behind him chasing after him," Swanson says.
The Boston man ran more than half a block after the 15-year-old suspect before tackling him on Arch Street. Swanson held him for police.
"He was just begging me to let him up, begging me to let him go, saying all sorts of stuff. It just wasn't going to happen," says Swanson.
Boston Police arrested the juvenile suspect. They say he approached the female victim at Summer and Arch and asked her for a cigarette, before stealing her purse and iPhone.
"I was mad. I wish I had a much more intelligent or witty answer, but it made me mad," says Swanson.
Swanson, a former nightclub bouncer and doorman says several have questioned his actions. He says he'd do it all again.
"You never know if you don't do something. Simply standing there and filming it or shouting down the street – that doesn't do anything. You'd be surprised the number of people who are willing to help once one person does," says Swanson.
Swanson says the woman thanked him, but he didn't catch her name.