94-year-old woman speaks out after man dressed as woman attempts to steal her purse
GERMANTOWN - A would-be robber picked the wrong woman to mess with. The 94-year-old fought off her attacker after he tried to steal her purse at a Germantown Pharmacy.
"As I was sitting, waiting, there was a man dressed as a woman," Jennie Pringle explained.
She works out a few times a week at the gym. And, her muscle memory helped her put up a brave battle when the purse snatcher grabbed her purse and her with it while seated at the pharmacy in line to get a flu shot, at the Rite Aid on West Cheltenham Avenue on October 18th.
Pringle described the scene, "I was sitting with my bag on my lap, straps in my arm. He came over and grabbed it. Of course, I had a hold of it and held onto it and, of course, he was stronger than I am and he dragged me out and I fell onto the floor on all fours."
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"How did you know it was a man dressed as a woman?" FOX 29’s Steve Keeley asked.
"I could tell when he stood up. He had a midriff on, dressed as a woman. I could see his stomach and women don’t look like that and I could see his hands and they were not women’s hands," she replied.
"You seem pretty tough. You aren’t letting go of the purse?" Keeley asked.
Pringle answered, "No, I was not. Cause I gripped it as soon as I felt him tug it. I gripped and I thought maybe I could hold onto it, but I couldn’t, cause he was stronger than I was."
"So then what happened?" Keeley asked.
"The workers came out from behind the counter trying to get my bag back. And, the nurse came out and said you’re bleeding," she explained. "He didn’t run out the door, he ran in the opposite direction, once I got up. I walked up to him and said, ‘Give me my bag.’ He was taking the money out, by that time. My identification, my credit cards all fell on the floor. By that time, the police were there. Then he tried to run but there were four or more policemen outside."
Police quickly captured 20-year-old Janhyi Boyd. District Attorney Larry Krasner announced Boyd is charged with robbery.
Pringle continued to explain the events after police took Boyd into custody, "He said we got him. So, I said, ‘He has my money.’ So, they went to the car and got the money and gave it back to me."
"Your $42?" Keeley asked.
"Yes. It wasn’t that much. They wanted to know how much it was. Three tens and some ones. I wanted to buy gas on my way home," she answered. "I was coming from the gym. I had been to the gym, went to the pharmacy and I was gonna get gas and come home."
Jenny got her money, her gas and got in an extra workout that day. Her muscle, her might and her determination made her not give in. It’s the first time in her 94 years she was a crime victim. Jennie agrees it would be wise to copy her regular workout routine at the gym, but not copy fighting back against a bigger, stronger purse snatcher 74 years younger, who is not a first, but multi-timer now being held on $500,000 bail.
Keeley then asked, "Any advice to people when somebody’s trying to snatch their purse?"
"I wouldn’t recommend that they hold onto it," Jennie replied, laughing.