Good Samaritan Wields a Mean Stick

Seventy-one-year-old Maria Ladron de Cuevara must have looked like an easy target to the two men who knocked her to the ground and stole her purse Wednesday morning, police said.

But they didn’t foresee the good Samaritan who left his car to chase one of the suspects 50 yards down the 100 block of Via de San Ysidro, striking him on the top of the head with a stick, according to police. The man held the suspect and waved down a passing Border Patrol car.

San Diego police arrived and arrested Arturo Cervantes, 20, of Guadalajara, Mexico. They took him to Chula Vista Community Hospital, where he received two stitches for head cuts. Cervantes was then taken to jail and booked on robbery charges.

Cervantes told police he entered the country illegally Tuesday. His accomplice escaped with the purse and $100, police said. The good Samaritan disappeared after turning Cervantes over to border police.