MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Myrtle Beach Police Department responded to two purse snatchings over the weekend. One of the crimes involved a 73-year-old woman being dragged to the ground.
According to an incident report from Myrtle Beach Police, officers were called to Coastal Grand Mall in the Dillard’s parking lot around 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening. The victim, a 73-year-old woman, told police she was walking through the parking lot with her purse in her hand, when a black car drove up beside her.
The woman told police that the driver reached out of the window and grabbed her purse, the report states. The woman refused to let go of the handbag and as the car sped up to drive away, she was pulled to the ground, ripping the purse from her grasp and cutting her hand.
The victim went into Dillard’s to ask the employees to call police. She told officers she didn’t get a good look at the driver, but thinks it was a middle-aged Hispanic male, according to the report.
The report states surveillance video captures the car, possibly a late model, 4-door Impala, speeding out of the parking lot just before the victim walked into the department store for help.
Shortly after the Dillard’s parking lot purse snatching, officers were called to another purse snatching possibly involving the same vehicle at the Neighborhood Walmart off Farrow Parkway near Market Common.
Police note the vehicle in the Walmart purse snatching was possibly a black, 4-door sedan, according to witnesses. The victim, a 73-year-old woman, was loading groceries into her SUV when the car pulled up directly behind her shopping cart, the report states. The driver reached out and grabbed the victim’s handbag, which was setting in the child seat area of the cart, and drove off quickly.
Witnesses told police they attempted to get the tag number off of the suspect’s vehicle, but the tag they reported, West Virginia 42M-547, returned as not on file.
