Metro Maintenance Worker Saves Woman From Purse Snatcher

A Metro maintenance worker was publicly praised by his employer this week for stepping in to save a woman from being robbed on a Green Line train.

Lawrence Sears came upon the purse-snatching attempt at the Willowbrook Green Line station on June 4 around 9:30 a.m., according to Ramon Montenegro of the sheriff’s Transit Service Bureau.

Andre Bryant, a 20-year-old Victorville man, allegedly began hitting the woman in the head when she would not let go of her purse. Sears, who was working nearby, saw what was happening and tackled Bryant, Montenegro said.

Bryant fought back against Sears, attracting the attention of a sheriff’s deputy who was also in the vicinity and was able to take the suspect into custody, he said.

Just minutes before, Bryant is accused of assaulting a man in an unprovoked attack on an eastbound Green Line train, Montenegro said.

When a passenger sitting near him tried to retrieve his bicycle and disembark at the Willowbrook station, Bryant allegedly began hitting him, causing a gash in his head, Montenegro said.

Sears, the passenger with the head injury and Bryant were taken to a hospital for treatment. The purse-snatching victim declined medical aid.

Bryant was booked at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on suspicion of battery on a transit employee/patron, assault likely to produce great bodily injury and attempted robbery.

“This is seeing something and doing something,” said Phil Washington, Metro’s new CEO.

City News Service

Photo via Flickr, Creative Commons