Ex-Marine MP nabs mother's purse snatcher

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A would-be purse snatcher discovered he picked the wrong handbag to steal Monday evening.

The victim's son, who just got out of the Marine Corps in February, was standing nearby.

"I was talking to my girlfriend outside Wal-Mart, and I heard screaming," said Donald Miller, a former military policeman. "When I turned around, it was my mother."

With purse in hand, the snatcher, later identified as 19-year-old Tyler R. Maxfield, took off running. Miller, who was about 75 feet away, went after him.

"They were in a pretty good struggle. [My mom] fell down, and he took off. I didn't stop to check on her; I just ran the guy down," Miller said.

Police received the call to Wal-Mart at 10:49 p.m. The victim, Donna Smith of Fairdealing, Missouri, told officers her purse was just stolen and the suspect was running toward a Hardee's restaurant.

The foot chase began in the northwest corner of the parking lot. Miller pursued Maxfield over a chain-link fence into another parking lot, where witnesses told Miller the suspect was hiding behind a Dumpster. Knowing he had been seen, Maxfield fled again.

"He kind of ran down a hill there, and I caught him (near the Hardee's parking lot). I'm an MP, and I'm halfway through my bachelor's in criminal justice, so I kind of know how to take a subject down," Miller said. "I took him down and restrained him like he was in a cuff until Poplar Bluff PD was there."

Police arrested Maxfield, of Poplar Bluff, on suspicion of second-degree robbery, misdemeanor marijuana possession and minor possession of alcohol. A records check also revealed a Maxfield had a Butler County failure to appear warrant for shoplifting and a Stoddard County warrant for unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.

Smith was not seriously injured during the struggle. Maxfield was booked at the Butler County jail, awaiting formal charges.