LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 6:00 pm
When it comes to choosing victims, a Washington, D.C., purse snatcher could hardly have made a worse pick.
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady and his wife were strolling along Pennsylvania Avenue, “right smack dab in front of the White House,” during a visit to D.C. this week when a man dashed up and tried to grab Tonja Casady’s purse, the chief said.
When her purse didn’t come off her shoulder, the man turned toward them and spoke, Casady said, but they couldn’t understand what he said. The chief grabbed him, pushed him into a pedestrian barricade and shouted. Uniformed secret service agents near the White House responded quickly, as did city cops.
“My immediate thought was that he was either going to come back for a second try, or up the ante by producing a weapon,” Casady said Thursday. “ I was disinclined to let either of those happen, and I knew that there were police officers all over the place, and that all I had to do was yell and get control of his arms quickly, and lots of help would appear immediately — as it did.”
But don’t cops generally tell people it’s better to lose a purse or wallet than be assaulted, or worse?
“Well, first, I’m not your average citizen (at least I’d like to think so,” the chief said in an e-mail. “I’ve had a bit more experience than most in such situations.
“Second, this guy squirted by us with a failed attempt to snatch Tonja’s purse, and then, rather than fleeing, he got past us, stopped, turned and faced us. … Okay, I was a little mad, too. It takes quite a bit to bring it out, but beneath this calm and bald exterior lurks an Irish red (pre-bald) head with a history of being pretty protective of his girlfriend for the past 37 years.”
Neither Casady nor his wife was injured, though he said Tonja Casady was shaken by the incident.
The Casadys were in Washington for a National Institute of Justice think tank of police chiefs and academics on policing research over the next five to 10 years.
Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.