By admin 
GLENDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — New video shows the moment Glendale police tracked down a man who snatched an elderly woman’s purse outside a grocery store earlier this month.
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The suspect, Josiah Brown, was arrested on charges of theft, unlawful flight from law enforcement, reckless driving, trespassing, possession of a narcotic drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, displaying a fictitious license plate and criminal damage.
On June 4, around 7:30 a.m., police say an elderly woman was walking into the Walmart near 55th and Northern avenues. Surveillance video shows the woman carrying the purse in her left hand as Brown follows closely behind her through the parking lot.
“I just know when I was walking into the store, I saw his reflection in the window,” the woman described.
As soon as the woman walked inside, police said the video shows Brown snatching her purse out of her hand and sprinting through the parking lot. The victim reported that $840 was stolen.
“When I came into the store, that’s when I felt somebody grab my purse, I think. When I turned around that’s when I saw him running away,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. He took all the money I had for my pills.”
Minutes later, Glendale police’s Real Time Crime Center tracked Brown to a neighborhood near 56th and Butler drives, less than a mile away from the store. The Real Time Crime Center spotted Brown’s vehicle parked as he was swapping his license plate.
“I think most suspects think that they can get away with the crimes that they are committing,” said Glendale Police Officer Joseph Merced.
Two Glendale police officers pulled up to Brown’s car, and he quickly reversed down the street until coming to a stop in a cul-de-sac. At the dead end, Brown ran out of his vehicle and began jumping through neighbors’ backyards, police said. He was briefly confronted by one homeowner, but continued running away and jumping from fence to fence.
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Brown finally stopped outside one home, changed his clothes and left his shoes at the side of the yard. As he was walking out of the backyard, Glendale police officers arrived and took him into custody.
“Get on the ground, get on the ground!” one officer yelled as Brown put his hands up.
Police said they discovered Brown’s red hoodie in the middle of the street, which was the same one he was wearing in the Walmart surveillance video. Officers recovered the woman’s debit card and phone that Brown had dropped, according to court documents.
“If we have a camera in the area or something along those lines, a drone that can get there quickly, they can capture footage of typically the suspect and details of the case prior to officer arrival,” said Merced. “Any advantage that we’re able to use to ultimately apprehend suspects and individuals that are out there on the roads committing crimes or in the streets, we’re going to use.”
Authorities found the woman’s purse in the trunk of Brown’s car, along with cocaine, a straw and small, empty baggies commonly used as drug paraphernalia.
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