In the wake of 2020, America saw crime go up as police, worried about the potential career and legal ramifications of dealing with crimes and the criminals committing them, backed off from doing so. Cities then degraded into anarchy as the police left the scene and empowered criminals dominated it.
Such was the case to such a degree across the country that even Ohio went downhill in 2021, with an 87-year-old woman in the state’s Lemon Township getting her purse snatched when she tried to go shopping for groceries, though it was recovered by a local Good Samaritan rather than any police officer.
The incident occurred on December 5 of 2021. Then, Pat Goins, who was 87 years old, went shopping for groceries at her local Kroger. She was walking down an aisle of the local supermarket when Derek Vauhn, who was 58 years old at the time, walked up and stole her purse right out of her cart!
That’s when Deshawn Pressley heard the cries for help from Ms. Goins and was the first person out of more than a dozen who eventually joined in the chase to jump into action and chase down Vaughn, who he managed to tackle in the parking lot and recover Mrs. Goins’ purse.
Describing what happened during the incident, particularly after he caught up to Vauhn the purse-snatcher, Mr. Pressley said, “I chased him down. He got to his car and everything, but I grabbed him, held him to the floor, got him down. Did what I had to do until the police arrived.”
The crowd that gathered, composed of about a dozen people who had rushed to the aid of Mrs. Goins, then forced Vauhn to apologize to her for his theft of her purse, which he did. Recounting that, Mrs. Goins said, “They [the members of the crowd] told him he better apologize to me. He said he was sorry, he said he was sorry.”
Commenting on the incident Later, Mr. Pressley said, “I just turned around and did what I had to do as a citizen and I’m glad I helped her because she’s a wonderful, lovely lady and I just love helping people, especially older women.”
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Watch that here:
This is what America is all about. pic.twitter.com/Q3Ur24hk2z
— Uncensored USA 🇺🇸 (@CarlosSimancas) July 28, 2023
Commenting on the above viral video of the incident, people praised Mr. Pressley for stepping in to help recover Mrs. Goins’ purse and said things like, “He would make an AWESOME police officer 😉” and “THATS how it’s supposed to go!”
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office agreed that Mr. Pressley deserved praise for his role in stopping the purse snatching incident and so presented him with the Citizen’s Award for his brave jump into action. Watch that here:
Vauhn was charged with robbery and theft for the incident and was, after being arrested thanks to Mr. Pressley’s brave and speedy response, held on a $50,000 bond.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video