In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight, two reader reports:

PURSE SNATCHER PURSUED: Earlier this evening, a texter reported seeing “several adults pursuing several teens” in The Junction. We were unable to find out what it was about – until this report that just arrived, from Lynda:

I wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to the local community to help retrieve my purse after it had been snatched this evening around 6:15 PM.

I was sitting at the Lodge with friends next to the window and a teenager grabbed my purse off of my chair. There was a group of 4 teenaged, black men in hooded sweatshirts with their pants hanging below their waists loitering in front of the Lodge. I turned my back for one second and one of them grabbed my purse which was hanging on my chair on the INSIDE of the restaurant furthest from the window. I immediately jumped out of my chair, through the window onto Alaska, and gave chase. I screamed as loud as I could for anyone to stop the (*&#@&*&^%$$ with my red purse. I didn’t realize it at the time, but everyone on California came to my aid. People were literally jumping out of windows and running down the street to help me catch this POS and get my purse back. I swear, it was like something out of ‘Starsky and Hutch’…LOVED IT! Well, I loved it in hindsight.

Thank you to EVERYONE for helping me, as I truly felt helpless running down the middle of California in my flip flops screaming. I want to give a special shout out to the man and his son that ultimately forced the thief to toss my purse. This man was/is total bada** and I believe the thief knew he was done at this point. I also want to REALLY thank the staff at the Lodge, there were at least 4 staff personnel that ran after the thief alongside me. They were truly intent on getting the thief and they went above and beyond the call of duty … thanks Tita and staff!