By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
EVERETT — A man who grabbed a senior citizen’s purse, ripped it from her arm, pushed her down and ran away on Tuesday didn’t get far.
He headed straight for Shayne Sandison of Everett, who saw the robbery occur less than a block away.
"I was going out to bring my car to get a paint job, and I noticed this guy had run up and hit an old lady," Sandison said.
The suspect "was running with the purse in his hand. I waited for him to get close to my car and then I jumped on him and grabbed him in a good arm lock. He was putting up a good struggle and complaining that he hadn’t done anything."
Sandison held the robber until two employees at nearby Everett Tire and Automotive at Hewitt and Hoyt avenues arrived to help. The men wrestled the suspect to the ground and pinned him while Sandison called police and medics for the 82-year-old victim.
"I just acted right on the moment," Sandison said. "I didn’t really think twice. I just grabbed him. It didn’t really hit me what I had done until a couple of minutes later after the police arrived, whether he had a knife or gun.
"I thought maybe he’d punch me, because he had a fist made, and I braced myself to get punched, but it was like he cooperated."
The woman said the thief ripped her jacket down the front and pushed her roughly to the ground, where she struck her head "pretty hard."
Sandison said he grabbed the suspect from behind.
"I told him to drop the purse and I’d let him go," he said. "I figured if he got away, at least we’d have her purse. He was squirming a lot, and he was a little bigger than me. He did drop the purse, but I just held on tighter."
Once he was confronted by police, the robber began to spit at the officers, Sandison said.
"When they arrested him, that’s when he started to yell, telling me to be at the court when he was prosecuted. He was threatening me about that. His speech was slurred, and I didn’t know if he was drunk or on some type of drugs," Sandison said.
The woman, who asked that her name not be used, was treated by Everett paramedics, then taken to a hospital to be checked before being released. She had been downtown to pay a bill and was headed for the bus stop to go to south Everett. She walks "all the time" and has never worried before about being attacked.
Sandison has lived in Everett since 1999, when he was a seaman stationed with the Navy. He got out in mid-February and is looking for a job. He plans to start school at ITT Technical Institute in Bothell.
A 27-year-old suspect from Sedro-Woolley was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on investigation of first-degree robbery and a felony probation violation warrant.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
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