Mother gets mugged in front of her 4 kids in Ft. Worth

[fm2]

Anyone see this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother gets mugged in front of her 4 kids

By ALEX BRANCH
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH -- An Arlington woman who had stopped for groceries at a Fort Worth Sam's Club was attacked by a mugger this week in front of her four children and other shoppers.

The robbery happened Tuesday in the parking lot of the store at 2440 S.E. Loop 820, police said.

"He punched me square in the face and ripped the purse off my neck," said the woman, who asked not to be identified because her assailant has not been caught.

"But the worst part is that he did it with my children watching," she said.

The robber could be same man who attacked an elderly woman this month outside a south Fort Worth grocery store, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman.

Investigators are examining surveillance video from Sam's, he said.

The woman said she and her four children -- ages 11, 9, 5 and 3 -- stopped at Sam's about 10 a.m. to buy groceries for a church dinner. She parked her SUV away from the store to avoid dents from other cars.

As they walked toward the store, two men in a white car stopped next to them, she said. The driver, who was talking on his cellphone, asked her how to get to Berry Street.
The woman replied that she didn't know.

After a few more questions, the driver got out and walked toward her, saying, "You can shake my hand, I'm not going to hurt you." Before the woman could get her children away, the man grabbed her left wrist and punched her in the face.
She fell to the ground, stunned.

"I tasted blood and knew something in my mouth wasn't right," she said. "But I didn't really know that he had hit me until I felt him pull the purse away. My children were crying."

The purse contained credit cards and cash, according to a police report.

The woman said that she should have just written down his license plate number but that anger took over. She got up and chased him to his car, grabbing his head through the window as he drove away.

"I tried to hit and poke him, but I don't know if I got a good shot," she said. "I was just screaming 'You crazy idiot' at him."

A couple were loading groceries into their car nearby and a few other shoppers were around, she said.

"They just stared at us," she said. "Finally, my 9-year-old figured out nobody was going to help us and ran inside the store."

The punch loosened several teeth, she said. She had oral surgery Tuesday, and braces were put on her teeth Wednesday. Her jaw throbs if she doesn't take pain medication, she said.

The children are still upset and may require counseling, she said.

"We're all still shocked it happened," she said. "My kids shouldn't have to see that."

[ccoker]

man, that fills me with RAGE
I hope they catch the scum and they resist arrest

[Venus Pax]

"They just stared at us," she said. "Finally, my 9-year-old figured out nobody was going to help us and ran inside the store."

This is what sickens me even more. We don't hear of anyone calling for help during this ordeal. (Yes, I realize that this is a newspaper and someone could have actually been on the phone with 911.)

[stevie_d_64]

Welcome to the real world...

Another example for a reason to not "purse" carry...But I fully understand the difficulties surrounding options and challenges for women to carry in the first place...

I guess the golf cart security didn't really work out this time either...

[phddan]

"Finally, my 9-year-old figured out nobody was going to help us and ran inside the store."

Sad, very sad.

Dan

[pbandjelly]

I guess the golf cart security didn't really work out this time either...

smoke break. you know how it is.

this is one of those sticky situations. On the one hand, you have the immediate gut reaction to "get involved."
on the other hand you have the contingency of folk you believe you don't "get involved" if it doesn't involve you to begin with.
then you have the thing where, you're just walking up to the store, thinking about all the junk you gotta get, and the 50gal drum of mayonnaise, when you see something out of the corner of your eyes, and by the time you realize what has happened to her, it's too late.
course, that's why most folks stay in the ol' Code Yella. 'specially in a parking lot.
she shoulda at least had some peppa spray with her.

[Paladin]

"He punched me square in the face and ripped the purse off my neck," said the woman,

[sarcasm on] but it's only property, just give them what they want and you won't get hurt [sarcasm off]

Seriously though, those purse snatchings can get pretty violent. One more reason to be prepared for the worst.

[LedJedi]

This is exactly why I carry and exactly why my wife will soon have a CHL as well and exactly why this woman should have been armed.

Luckily the creep just wanted her purse. It could have been a whole lot worse.

Major kudos to her for fighting back, but a controlled and lawful pull of the trigger could have ended that situation quite well.

In my mind when you deal with someone like that you're not just saving yourself from harm, you're saving every person that creep will eventually do the same (or worse) to when he's done with you.

You've just crossed the Curtis line. ~Dreamcatcher

[HighVelocity]

At 10am no less. SE Fort Worth has been in the news a lot lately for bold attacks in public similar to this. This is my back yard and being on high alert all the time is tiring. If someone walks within 50 ft of me while I am pumping gas, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. This is no way to live.

I did see a patrol car parked in the median near 820 and JT White yesterday with a giant NOW HIRING sign in the windshield so if any of you are aspiring to be Peace Officers, Fort Worth PD needs YOU.

[Rex B]

I did see a patrol car parked in the median near 820 and JT White yesterday with a giant NOW HIRING sign in the windshield so if any of you are aspiring to be Peace Officers, Fort Worth PD needs YOU.

They might as well have made it say "We are under-manned and response times are somewhat less than your average criminal act".

[tallmike]

Major kudos to her for fighting back, but a controlled and lawful pull of the trigger could have ended that situation quite well.

You've just crossed the Curtis line. ~Dreamcatcher

If she had shot someone who was walking towards her she would have more problems than just a missing purse and some loose teeth at this point. She had no idea that he was a threat until he hit her, and even then it was not a deadly force situation.

She should have had pepper spray, this is a good example of why everyone should.

[TX Rancher]

"said the woman, who asked not to be identified because her assailant has not been caught. "

Is she worried about the BG finding out who she is? He's got her purse which evidently contained her DL, credit cards, and probably other forms of ID...I think he knows who his victim was, and where she lives...

[LedJedi]

Major kudos to her for fighting back, but a controlled and lawful pull of the trigger could have ended that situation quite well.

You've just crossed the Curtis line. ~Dreamcatcher

If she had shot someone who was walking towards her she would have more problems than just a missing purse and some loose teeth at this point. She had no idea that he was a threat until he hit her, and even then it was not a deadly force situation.

She should have had pepper spray, this is a good example of why everyone should.

umm, someone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong here, but at the moment he assaulted her and then stole her purse that makes it robbery which is a justification for deadly force.

§ 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is
justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or
tangible, movable property:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the
other under Section 9.41; and
(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the
deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of
arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the
nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or
(B) to prevent the other who is fleeing
immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated
robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the
property; and
(3) he reasonably believes that:
(A) the land or property cannot be protected or
recovered by any other means; or
(B) the use of force other than deadly force to
protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or
another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Sec. 29.02. ROBBERY. (a) A person commits an offense if, in the course of committing theft as defined in Chapter 31 and with intent to obtain or maintain control of the property, he:
(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another; or
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens or places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree.

If he's trying to drive off in a car and there's not a cop right there to do it for her I believe it's reasonable to assume she would need to use more than standard force to get her purse back. Apparently she needed more than non-deadly force anyway since she used force and still did not get her purse back.

After he punched her in the face (a pretty good whack from what I gather form the article) I also believe that using non-deadly force would expose her to further serious injury.

Considering she lost teeth from the punch and sounds pretty banged up it wasn't just a love tap. I could easily see that being aggravated robbery.

You are correct though that she would not have been justified until it turned into a robbery.

I talked with my wife a bit about this last night. She was a bit aghast that this happened in Sam's parking lot since we shop at Sam's all the time, but it did serve to drive the point home that it can happen to anyone, anywhere anytime.

She brought up the point that it would be horrible if the woman had to use DF in front of her children but I then asked what is worse, seeing your mother victimized or seeing your mother defend herself after being victimized?

[PhilR.]

She had no idea that he was a threat until he hit her, and even then it was not a deadly force situation.

That would be incorrect. Being assaulted by someone with the capability to cause permanent damage or death with their fists -- and I'll wager that the person doing the assaulting was bigger than the victim -- is indeed a deadly force situation.

PhilR.

[seamusTX]

I guess someone needs to point out that people who try to strike up converstations with strangers are always trouble. They may be harmless nuts or religious proselytizers, but they are always trouble.

I hate to second-guess the victim, but she should have ignored the guy, and started yelling when he approached her.

- Jim