The suspect crashed the getaway car down the road and was arrested. The Navy officer suffered road rash burns.
About 40 purses are snatched every day in America, but one would-be thief picked the wrong pocketbook to nab.
Navy petty officer Sarah Fuentes, 22, was having lunch with her cousin in Miami Beach, Florida, when a thief snatched her expensive Louis Vuitton designer bag.
Fuentes immediately ran after him.
“In that moment I was like, 'oh my God, let’s go, we’re getting this bag,'” Fuentes told Inside Edition.
Fuentes caught up with the suspect as he got into his getaway car and leaned into the open passenger window while trying to grab her purse. When the thief hit the accelerator, she held on tight.
“I know now it’s better to not do that. He could have been armed. It could have been a lot worse,” Fuentes said.
She suffered severe road rash burns to her arms and legs. The suspect crashed the car a few blocks away and was arrested.
“I feel like I had a guardian angel and somehow made it through,” Fuentes said.
The suspect allegedly told police he'd been using drugs the day of the robbery and claimed he only knew something had happened due to the damage to his car.