Vigilante Grandma - WA state
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:14 pm
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/biz ... 39486.html
March 21, 2008, 11:24PM
No escaping this granny for KFC robbery suspect
Nnewhouse News Service
Thieves, robbers: Stay away from Camas, Wash. It's Mary Chamberlain's town. The 67-year-old had picked up a friend at a hospital Wednesday and was driving by the local KFC when an employee came running out, chasing a man and yelling "He robbed us!"
Many people might have called 911 and left it at that. Not Chamberlain. The employee gave up the chase, but Chamberlain started driving after the man. "I thought I'd slow him down, anyway," she said.
The suspect kept shouting "I didn't do anything!" prompting two men to come out of the local Kingdom Hall and ask what was up. They called police. Chamberlain stayed in pursuit.
"I followed him on down the road. He ducked into the yards. I couldn't find him. I figured he was going yard-to-yard-to-yard jumping fences."
She eventually spotted him trying to climb a fence.
"I jumped out of the car," she said with a casual air, like the grandmother of 12 she is. She said she didn't stop to think whether the suspect was armed.
"I pulled him off the fence. He didn't swing at me. I just told him, 'Just give it up. You haven't got a chance.' I had my arm around his neck, and I was going to try and bring his arm up behind him. It looks easy on TV. Believe me — it's not."
The suspect was about the same height as Chamberlain, 5-foot-6, with an average build. The pair ended up locked together in a slow dance moving toward the gate of the fence.
"I wasn't going to let go," she said. Both could hear sirens by now. "I told him, 'Just give it up,' then the police showed up and hollered at him to get down."
Police arrested Joshua G. Crowley, 22, of Washougal, Wash. He is accused of robbing the KFC at knifepoint, said Camas Police spokesman Mitch Lackey.
Lackey doesn't recommend acts of vigilantism such as Chamberlain's.
Chamberlain is retired from a job at United Parcel Service and, as a regular customer of the restaurant that was robbed, says she just felt the need to defend it.
"You're messing with one of my favorite places," she said.
Her four kids think she's crazy, Chamberlain said. But she wants them to tell this robbery story to the grandkids.
"They'll know they'll always be safe with Grandma."
March 21, 2008, 11:24PM
No escaping this granny for KFC robbery suspect
Nnewhouse News Service
Thieves, robbers: Stay away from Camas, Wash. It's Mary Chamberlain's town. The 67-year-old had picked up a friend at a hospital Wednesday and was driving by the local KFC when an employee came running out, chasing a man and yelling "He robbed us!"
Many people might have called 911 and left it at that. Not Chamberlain. The employee gave up the chase, but Chamberlain started driving after the man. "I thought I'd slow him down, anyway," she said.
The suspect kept shouting "I didn't do anything!" prompting two men to come out of the local Kingdom Hall and ask what was up. They called police. Chamberlain stayed in pursuit.
"I followed him on down the road. He ducked into the yards. I couldn't find him. I figured he was going yard-to-yard-to-yard jumping fences."
She eventually spotted him trying to climb a fence.
"I jumped out of the car," she said with a casual air, like the grandmother of 12 she is. She said she didn't stop to think whether the suspect was armed.
"I pulled him off the fence. He didn't swing at me. I just told him, 'Just give it up. You haven't got a chance.' I had my arm around his neck, and I was going to try and bring his arm up behind him. It looks easy on TV. Believe me — it's not."
The suspect was about the same height as Chamberlain, 5-foot-6, with an average build. The pair ended up locked together in a slow dance moving toward the gate of the fence.
"I wasn't going to let go," she said. Both could hear sirens by now. "I told him, 'Just give it up,' then the police showed up and hollered at him to get down."
Police arrested Joshua G. Crowley, 22, of Washougal, Wash. He is accused of robbing the KFC at knifepoint, said Camas Police spokesman Mitch Lackey.
Lackey doesn't recommend acts of vigilantism such as Chamberlain's.
Chamberlain is retired from a job at United Parcel Service and, as a regular customer of the restaurant that was robbed, says she just felt the need to defend it.
"You're messing with one of my favorite places," she said.
Her four kids think she's crazy, Chamberlain said. But she wants them to tell this robbery story to the grandkids.
"They'll know they'll always be safe with Grandma."
Although a 67 yr old grandma chasing and wrestling with a 22 yr old bad guy armed with a knife is kinda pushing the envelope, I am a big fan of people NOT tolerating criminal behavior. 
