O.C. woman run over and killed during purse-snatching caught on camera at mini mall
A woman died after being run over by robbers as they stole her purse in a Garden Grove shopping center Wednesday morning, police said.
A woman died Wednesday after being dragged and run over in a Garden Grove parking lot as she struggled with robbers who were trying to steal her purse, police said.
The 32-year-old Westminster woman was walking on the sidewalk of a shopping center at Brookhurst Street and Westminster Avenue when a man ran up from behind and tried to snatch her purse, according to Garden Grove police.
The man threw the woman to the ground, but she held on to the purse. The robber then dragged the woman through the parking lot and to a waiting car, where he got into the passenger seat, according to surveillance video obtained by KTLA-TV.
The woman continued to hold on to the purse as the driver accelerated, dragging her alongside the vehicle, according to police.
She suffered traumatic injuries and died at a local hospital, police said.
Undercover detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Burglary Robbery Task Force had been surveilling the men in the vehicle, who police say were suspected of being involved in previous robberies.
The detectives followed the men in the vehicle as they fled west on the 22 Freeway into Los Angeles County. Three men were arrested shortly after they abandoned the vehicle near the 110 Freeway and Century Boulevard, police said.
Garden Grove police said the investigation is ongoing and withheld the names of the three men who were arrested. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons unit at (714) 741-5839.
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