San Diego

A San Diego woman was arrested Sunday night in the armed robbery of a Navy man who had just withdrawn money from a downtown cash machine, a San Diego Police Department spokesman said Monday.

Mark Stafford, 20, had just withdrawn $40 from an ATM in the 700 block of E Street about 8:40 p.m. Sunday when a woman who had been sitting near the machine approached him, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Stafford and the woman struggled briefly over the money until she drew a knife, took the cash and ran, Robinson said.

Off duty San Diego Police Officer John Reese, who had also gone to the cash machine to make a withdrawal, saw the robbery and chased her. He caught the woman in the 600 block of Market Street, identified himself as a police officer and arrested her, Robinson said. The money was recovered.

Melvina Tatum, 29, who lives in the 500 block of 22nd Street, was being held in the Las Colinas jail in Santee on $15,000 bail for suspicion of robbery and battery on a police officer with injury, a jail spokeswoman said.

Reese, who broke a bone in his right foot during the chase, was treated and released at a hospital, where his foot was placed in a cast, Robinson said.