Police arrested a 16-year-old South Orange resident Friday morning and charged him with stealing a woman’s purse in Spiotta Park earlier this week.
The woman, a South Orange resident, was walking through the park on Tuesday at approximately 7:23 p.m. when someone came up from behind her and grabbed her black Coach purse before fleeing on foot, said Chief James Chelel. As officers searched the area, a Detective saw someone matching the description in the municipal parking lot adjacent to Sloan Street. The officer chased him to the wooded area of Waterlands Park but then lost him, Chelel said.
“The [purse snatching] incident was captured on [a surveillance] camera,” said Chelel. The woman was able to identify the teenager from that as well as from other surveillance photos taken inside and outside several businesses in the area, Chelel said.
Police arrested the teen this morning at 9:35 a.m., said Chelel, who said the boy is a resident of Valley Street and is not a student at Columbia High School.
The 16-year-old was charged with theft, said Chelel.
