Just days after a woman is robbed in a local parking lot, she spots the same man trying to grab another woman's purse. Her son jumped into action to stop the thief outside the Walgreens on West State Street in Trenton.
Phillip Campbell says it all happened so fast. He says he asked his mother to show him where she'd been victimized a few days earlier. He says he never expected to come face to face with the man who stole his mom's purse.
Campbell says "There wasn't a thought, just get him." His mind went blank, he simply reacted. "I was like, you ain't going nowhere. If I'd have had to chase him through a field, I'd have chased him through a field man."
His mother had just pointed out the man who snatched her purse 4 days earlier in the Walgreens parking lot. As she pulled into the lot, the thief was striking again. "When I jumped out, I seen the girl on the ground and I seen the dude trying to grab it. And then the next moment, I just remember grabbing him."
Campbell, along with his mother's boyfriend, wrestled the man to the ground, holding him until police arrived. 25 year-old Joseph Hilliard Jr. was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery. His driver, 24 year-old Dee Ann Lipp was also arrested.
Chief Arthur Scott of the Trenton police says "It was a gutsy move on their part. We're certainly glad they did it. We got a break and all's well that ends well I suspect."
Campbell says he's glad the 2 are off the streets and behind bars and says he has no sympathy for those that prey on the vulnerable, particularly his mother. "I don't want him doing it no more. I know times are tough, it's tough for everybody. That don't mean you gotta rob people."
We spoke with the woman who was actually being robbed when the 2 men came to her rescue. She tells me she was terrified when it was happening, but says she's extremely thankful that her 2 knights in shining armor came to her aid.
Trenton police also believe the couple is responsible for a purse snatching in Oxford that happened earlier this month. They say they're helping Oxford police with that investigation.
