Woman fights back against purse thief

HOUSTON – A woman in the Heights refused to be a crime victim.

Jeanie Cooper said her hands were full about 5:45 p.m. on Monday as she walked up to her front porch on 14th Street near Studewood. She said a man came up and tried to steal her new purse. She wasn't about to let anyone steal it.

"When he started pulling me, I feel back downstairs and I was laying right here," said Cooper.  "The purse and the lunch kit were laying underneath me. He's like, maybe, 125 -- little guy.  I weigh 200 pounds.  He's trying to drag me down the thing." 

She said he dragged her down the sidewalk. She said the man eventually gave up, jumped in a getaway car with another man and took off. 

But she held on to her new purse.  

"He never said a word. And finally gave up because leverage just wasn't on his side.  He dragged me all the way from there over to here," Cooper said.

She warned others not to make the same mistakes she did. 

"Pay attention to what's going on because you become so desensitized or used to your environment that I would have not have thought a thing about it if he was parked somewhere else on the street," Cooper said.

Houston police said the robbery division is investigating this as an attempted theft by force case.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.