Off-Duty Detective Runs Down Purse-Snatcher In Gravesend

They’re always on duty, always ready to help!

An off-duty detective’s trip to the barbershop turned into a foot chase when he came to the aid of a 72-year-old woman who had her purse snatched in Gravesend Monday, CBS New York reports.

Detective Ralph Gaglioti was waiting outside a barbershop on Mcdonald Avenue, near Gravesend Neck Road, Monday morning when he reportedly heard screams and saw a woman run past him.

“I noticed people behind her chasing her, and I heard the screams of: ‘Stop her! She just grabbed my bag!'” Gaglioti told CBS.

Gaglioti, a mechanic crew chief for the NYPD’s aviation unit, saw several people running after the suspect, including the 72-year-old woman, and he quickly joined in the chase, according to the Daily News.

He eventually found the suspect, 27-year-old Astarra Herbert, hiding behind a flatbed truck.

“I just grabbed her and said, ‘I’m a police officer! That’s it … It’s all over,” Gaglioti told the Daily News.

Herbert reportedly struggled to escape, but Gaglioti was able to hold unto her until uniformed police officers arrived and arrested her for grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, according to the Daily News.

Herbert allegedly snatched the purse from a bench a few blocks from where she was picked up. she has been arrested 15 times for burglary, prostitution and possession of stolen property, authorities told the Daily News.