Off-Duty Officer Arrests 2 Suspected Purse Snatchers

Two suspected purse snatchers were arrested Friday by an off-duty police officer with a sharp eye, a good memory and a dirty uniform.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Orange Police Officer Roy Griffith, who was taking his uniform to the cleaners just before the 10:30 a.m. arrest.

Griffith said he noticed a brown Honda Civic cruising slowly through a parking lot near his cleaners in the 2600 block of East Chapman Avenue.

“It matched the description,” he said, of a vehicle used Thursday night in a purse snatching at Lemon Street and Collins Avenue. He studied the vehicle for about “5 to 10 seconds” and then decided to go inside the cleaners.

Griffith said that as he put his clothes down on the counter, he saw one of the occupants get out of the car, run up to an elderly woman and grab her purse, which was in the basket of a shopping cart.

“They had a tug of war for a few seconds and then he got it away from her,” Griffith said.

Griffith, a three-year veteran with the department, drew his off-duty service handgun and chased the suspect, who got into the slow-moving Honda. Griffith ran alongside the car, identified himself as a police officer and ordered the woman who was driving to stop.

While he held the two suspects at gunpoint, a nearby store owner called police. Authorities said that no one was injured during the incident and that the victim’s purse was recovered.

“This is the first time I had to make an off-duty arrest,” Griffith said. “It was really rewarding. (The victim) was really grateful.”

Arrested on suspicion of robbery were Devon Jackson, 22, of Laguna Niguel, and Charleen Frank, 26, identified by police as a transient. Both were being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.