Mugging’s No Kick When TV Karate Star Kicks Back

A former Miss San Gabriel with a black belt in karate, Susan Mechsner, 31, has performed hand-to-hand combat in the television shows “Stripes,” and “Magnum P.I.” and a 1983 movie, “Lovely But Deadly.”

But last week, Mechsner used her skills in the real world when she apprehended a young mugger who was beating a woman in San Gabriel.

Police Lt. Al Branvold said Mechsner was visiting friends on the 1300 block of South Palm Avenue when she heard the screams of 51-year-old Shun-Deng Shou, who was struggling with a 17-year-old who was trying to grab her purse.

When she stepped outside, Mechsner said, she saw the youth beating Shou until the woman finally let go of her purse.

As the thief fled, Mechsner, who was barefoot, chased him up the block. The karate expert caught up with him at the corner, tackled him, pinned him to the ground and held him until the police arrived, Branvold said.

“She did a brave thing, definitely,” Branvold said. “She got into this without really knowing what risks were involved.”

But Mechsner said she had no reservations about throwing herself into the middle of the real-life drama.

“My adrenalin was up,” she said. “After the fact, you think: ‘What if there was a gun? What if there was a knife?’ But I am pretty adept at handling myself.”

She added: “The police were pretty shocked.”