'I Did This For Principle' Says Woman Dragged By Gas Station Thieves

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DAVIE (CBSMiami) – One of the men connected to a vicious purse snatching that involved a woman being dragged through a gas station is now behind bars.

Patricia Coxe vividly remembers the day a thief broke her window while she was pumping gas at a station in Southwest Ranches.

After noticing the man had grabbed her purse, she went after him.

What she got was a ride that could have killed her.

"I attempted to grab my purse from him and he locked my arms over the car, inside the car and the driver accelerated," she explained.

Investigators arrested Robert Kenneth Flagg, the one accused of grabbing onto Coxe and dragging her across the parking lot while his buddy hit the gas.

He made his first court appearance on Monday, while the getaway driver is still on the loose.

Coxe is glad Flagg behind bars, but is angered at the constant threat of violence in South Florida.

"It's ridiculous. South Florida has become as violent. It's repeated again and again," she said. "My family could have been getting a very different call that day then what they got, a very different, watch yourself and I think it's time for citizens to speak out!"

Coxe has lived here all her life.  She said that day she decided to take on the person who's accused of stealing from her because it was the right thing to do.

"I did not do this for my purse. I did not do this for my $600. I did this for principle. You don't steal. In the world I live, in the world I was brought up in, you don't touch what's not yours," she said.

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