Police: Citizens Chase Down Man Who Stole Pocketbooks From Women Outside Butera's

A man was arrested after he stole pocketbooks from two women and was chased down by several witnesses in Woodbury on Wednesday, police said.

According to police, two women were sitting outside Butera’s Restaurant, at 7903 Jericho Turnpike, when a man grabbed their pocketbooks off the table and fled southbound on Southwoods Road at 3:10 p.m.

Several witnesses pursued the suspect, who entered a 2008 Cadillac that was stopped at a traffic light. The suspect, Anthony Q. Grant, 24, of Woodbury, told the driver to flee. The driver refused and Grant placed his hand on the accelerator, police said.

The witnesses who were chasing down Grant attempted to remove him from the car as it lurched onto the curb, according to authorities.

Officers arrived to the scene and arrested Grant and charged him with two counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree.

Authorities recovered the pocketbooks and no injuries were reported.

Grant will be arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Thursday.

Mugshot via NCPD