
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995                   TAG: 9509130067
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OFFICER FOILS PURSE-SNATCHING

A Roanoke police officer on his way to work Tuesday foiled a purse-snatching and nabbed the suspect.

About 6:20 a.m., Officer M.E. Tingley heard a woman screaming as he walked in the 400 block of Luck Avenue Southwest, according to a police news release.

Tingley saw a man and woman struggling over a pocketbook, the release said. Tingley shouted at the man to let the purse go. The man fled to a nearby bicycle and rode west on Luck Avenue. After a short pursuit, Tingley made an arrest, assisted by a Roanoke sheriff's deputy who also was on his way to work.

Donald Edward Brown, 38, of the 1000 block of Rugby Boulevard Northwest was charged with attempted robbery.

by CNB