BOCA RATON, Fla. – Haydion Boles was blindsided when a man snatched her purse in a Boca Raton Publix over the weekend.
She and her friend, Antonette Manning, were in line at the checkout counter when Devaris Frederick asked to cut Boles in line. When she refused, things took a turn.
"I turned around, and I was explaining to my friend what just happened. By the time I could say two words, he grabbed my purse." Boles said.
Boles and Manning said Frederick took off out of the store."She started screaming, 'My purse! My purse!' and I started yelling, 'Thief! Thief! That guy got her purse,'" Manning said.
Frederick tried to jump into a U-Haul van that was waiting outside, but he fell and dropped the purse.
He quickly got back up and grabbed it before starting to run again, shoving a shopping cart in the way of a good Samaritan who was chasing him.
"The guy flipped it back on him and he fell again. That's when the purse fell again from him and then there was another guy that tackled him down to the ground," Boles said.
Cellphone video shows the moments before police arrived as bystanders held Frederick down on the ground.
Frederick faces multiple charges, including robbery.
Boles said she's thankful for the people who acted quickly to help her, but the entire situation, has had a big effect on her.
"Literally, every time I'm in a store and somebody walks up to me, he's the first picture that comes back to me," Boles said.