Channel 5 producer victim of purse snatching
She is best known as the tireless producer of the hit television show “Ultimate K.T.V.” But this morning Channel Five’s Mary Mangar hit a sour note courtesy of a purse snatcher. Mangar had just stepped out of a store on Freetown Road when an unidentified attacker pounced on her from behind. The brazen thief, who was on a bike, then rode in the direction of the Belcan Bridge with Mangar in hot pursuit. In this case, persistence and the quick help of a good Samaritan prevented what could have been a total disaster.
Mary Mangar, Robbed
“Someone just came from behind me and pulled my purse away. My hand went backwards, because I had it hooked around my hand, but it slipped out because it’s a big enough strap that it came off. And by the time I was conscious of what happened, I saw this young man on a bike ride right pass me and then I realised oh, he grabbed my purse because it just happened so quickly you don’t realise what’s going on. My next reaction was to start running after him, I didn’t stop to think, I just started running down the street chasing him yelling, “Stop, stop him, stop him, he just stole my purse. Grab him.” And it was like very quickly, I’m chasing behind him, there are people on the sidewalk, there are people driving by, and nobody stops and do anything. And I kept running and he’s riding very fast, but I’m yelling on top and eventually I saw a couple people running and then I saw this young man who seemed that he was coming in the opposite direction towards me on his bike. He said, “Miss what happened?” And I said, “He just grabbed my purse.” He said, “Who?” I said, “The young man that just went down, he had on a camouflage T-shirt.” So the young man rode after him, but I kept running still in the same direction. And by the time I got by the corner by the curve by farmers market where they have the restaurant, the young man that chased after him came back and he handed me my purse and he said, “Miss, stop, stop. See, here’s your purse.”
The thief was not apprehended and managed to get away with Mangar’s black Motorola Krazr cell phone. She is appealing to anyone who might have come into possession of the phone to kindly return it to Channel Five at 17 Regent Street. She also thanks the lady who called 911, the police for responding quickly, and the young man who recovered her purse.
