She’s 73 but Goes Like 60 After Purse Snatcher

Pity the poor purse snatcher who made the mistake of picking on 73-year-old Louise Burt.

“I didn’t give him a chance. He picked on the wrong old lady,” said Burt as she recounted how she chased the thief through San Francisco’s Mission District on Tuesday.

“I chased him to hell and gone. Then the police caught him.”

Burt was en route to a bingo game at a senior citizens center with a couple of chums when someone grabbed her purse. Dressed in a black pantsuit and pumps with 2 1/2-inch heels, her waist-length silver-gold hair anchored with lacquered chopsticks, Burt gave chase.

“That guy took off like a deer, and I was right behind him,” said the woman, whose purse contained her keys, about $10, a transit pass and her police whistle.

“I was so beside myself I wanted to kill him. I pulled the chopsticks out of my hair to stab him if I could,” she said. “My hair fell down and was hanging down to my fanny. I must have looked like a witch, but I got superpower from somewhere and kept right after him.”

Crowd Applauded

Swearing and shouting for help, she chased the thief down one street, through an alley and up another street into a public housing project, where Officers Cherelyn Barnett and Melvin Thornton joined the pursuit.

“We were on (foot) patrol, when we saw--and heard her--chasing the guy,” Thornton said. “Did she run. We finally overtook her and went after him.”

Thornton caught up with the man on a rooftop, where he found him rifling the purse.

“He took one look at me, dropped the purse and jumped off the roof, two stories down to the ground,” the officer said. “It must have been a 20- to 25-foot drop.”

Thornton ran downstairs, where he found William Jones, 22, cowering beneath a car with two broken ankles. A crowd that had gathered applauded when he was brought out.

Jones was being held in the Mission Emergency Hospital’s jail ward for investigation of strong-arm robbery.

Burt praised the officers “to high heavens” and only regretted missing the bingo game and failing to catch the culprit herself.

“He was a little shrimp of a guy, and I could have cold-cocked him with my fist right into his jaw,” she said. “I was a professional volleyball player for 15 years when I lived in L.A. And let me tell you, honey, I’ve got strong arms.”