Mar 25, 2008

Purse-snatch suspect runs out of gas, is arrested

By Harry Harris / Bay Area News Group

A 69-year-old Berkeley woman trying to retrieve her stolen purse was dragged more than 40 feet Sunday morning in a North Oakland drug store parking lot as she held onto the suspect's car before she was thrown free, police said.

Police said the suspect, Greg Van Huisen, 32, of Byron, then drove to Lafayette, stole another woman's purse and led officers on a chase to Pinole where his car ran out of gas and he was arrested.

It turned out the 2004 BMW Van Huisen was driving had been stolen earlier in Brentwood, police said.

The spree began about 11 a.m. Sunday inside the Long's Drug Store at 51st Street and Broadway.

Officer John Koster said Van Huisen, who is about 6-foot-6-inch and 200 pounds, grabbed the 5-foot-2-inch woman's purse, looked back at her and said "thank you," before running to the BMW in the parking lot.

The woman chased him and grabbed the driver's door before Van Huisen could close it, hanging on as he drove away, Koster said.

The car went some 40 feet before Van Huisen made a sharp turn, causing the woman to be thrown off.

She suffered a broken tail bone, a broken finger and multiple cuts and scratches, and was treated and released at a hospital, police said.

As Van Huisen was driving out of the lot, a 44-year-old Oakland woman who had witnessed the incident reached inside the vehicle to try and grab the purse; it eventually fell out onto the pavement and was recovered.

Police said Van Huisen continued on to a Lafayette supermarket parking lot on Mount Diablo Boulevard where he snatched a woman's purse before driving away.

Van Huisen drove through the streets of several cities, at one point in excess of 70 mph, police said. Ground units lost sight of him temporarily, but the car was spotted by a CHP helicopter in El Sobrante before it got onto Interstate 80.

Lafayette police Chief Michael Hubbard said Van Huisen was able to drive to the Appian Way exit of Interstate 80 in Pinole where he ran out of gas, stopped and surrendered. He was arrested by Lafayette police Officer Jacqui Dennison. The Lafayette woman's purse was found in the car.

Van Huisen was identified by witnesses as the purse snatcher in both cases. He refused to talk to investigators and was booked into the North County Jail in Oakland on suspicion of strong-arm robbery, assault and auto theft.