4 Passers-By Chase, Then Hold Man Snatching Purse

Passers-by late Thursday grabbed and held a man who snatched a purse from a 30-year-old North Hollywood woman, Los Angeles police said.

Kenneth Alan Powell, 27, of North Hollywood was arrested on suspicion of robbery and was being held in the North Hollywood Division jail in lieu of $6,000 bail, Lt. Ron LaRue said.

Powell grabbed the purse as the woman walked on Oxnard Street near Whitsett Avenue about 9 p.m., LaRue said.

Hilario Lopez, 17, said he and a group of friends were driving by when they saw a man and a woman struggling. “I just ran as fast as I could to catch the man,” Lopez said.

Lopez said he and friend Henry Serrato, 16, grabbed the man. Lopez’s 18-year-old brother, Adolfo, and an unidentified man who was also driving by helped hold Powell until police arrived.

“The worst thing that could have happened would have been for him to have a gun, but I just wanted to catch him,” Hilario Lopez said.

The hands of the woman victim were injured slightly but she did not seek treatment at a hospital, LaRue said.