The incident happened at 6:00 Tuesday evening at the Mineola Rail Road Station.
"I guess he saw a pretty little pink jacket and hat with a flower on it and thought I was pretty easy. I was on the phone," she said.
The 32-year-old woman was sitting on a bench on the north side of the station when the bandit ran past and grabbed her purse.
"I happened to be on a phone call with a friend of mine and I noticed he was coming closer to me. The only reason I looked at him was because he was coming closer to me and it's a wide platform," she said.
The victim then chased the suspect and grabbed him, but he pushed her away.
"I caught up with him at the staircase where you get off the platform. He pushed me so I fell down the stairs. So he got a little lead on me," she explained.
She fell on her hands and knees, suffering minor cuts and bruises, but she wasn't done yet.
The victim got back up and started chasing the bad guy again.
"I saw him go around this building to the left and something told me to go around the right and try to catch him on the opposite side. And that's what I did. He had no choice but to run into an alley," she said.
She cornered him in the alley behind 80 Main Street and pushed him against a car.
She grabbed him by his jacket, but the purse snatching bandit managed to wiggle out of the jacket.
He left it and the purse behind as he took off running again.
The victim ended her chase and called police.
The suspect is described as 25 years old, 5'5 inches tall. The victim said he had a Hispanic accent. He was wearing blue jeans, white thermal and light colored knit cap.
The victim said she does not recommend doing what she did. She understands the guy could have had a knife or a gun, but said for some reason her instinct told her to fight back.
She said she was attacked in college so she had taken a self defense class.
Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
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