EXCLUSIVE: Great-grandma uses cane to save elderly neighbor from violent purse snatching in Oakland
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A remarkable story is coming out of West Oakland Sunday after a cane-wielding great-grandmother saved another senior from getting robbed in broad daylight!
Ring video from 76-year-old Miss Faye's home shows her running out her front door on the afternoon of Oct. 12.
She had spotted a vehicle she thought was a rideshare driver, cruising down the street. That's when she says a young man came out of the sedan and attacked her elderly neighbor, who is also in her late 70s. She knew she had to jump into action.
In the video you can hear her yelling for her German Shepherd Troy to come out and help. Since Troy was in the backyard, Miss Faye ran out with her cane to stop the attacker who was grabbing her neighbor's purse. She even used her cane to hit the car several times, which led to the suspect dropping her neighbor's purse.
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"If my knees weren't hurting me, I think I would have been out there a little faster," She laughed.
When asked if she was scared to intervene, Miss Faye says not one bit.
"I never thought about it. Fear never crossed my mind, cos I'm crazy I guess," She says laughing. "I don't know. It's just something that's in my nature. I do things, and it doesn't bother me until a couple hours later. That's how I've always been."
Law enforcement never encourages people to interfere with a crime in progress, so Miss Faye is grateful, because this situation could have been much worse. She has these words of advice for a more harmonious community.
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"Just try to be neighborly. Watch out for your neighbors and surroundings, even for your personal self, because so many things have been happening lately. Not just in Oakland, but all over the world. Just be aware of your surroundings. That's all I have to say about that," she said.
Miss Faye says her neighbors have been calling her a hero and bringing her pies and other food to show their thanks. According to her, the victim in this crime is a little bruised but now doing okay.
A tenant and friend of Miss Faye says she is a homeowner and needs to still pay things off after trying to make improvements to her house. So, people have joined to together to get Miss Faye some help and have created this GoFundMe.
Oakland Police tell me this is an active investigation and asks anyone with information to come forward.
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