Purse-snatching suspect arrested
An Armstrong County man was arrested Thursday afternoon by Washington police after he allegedly grabbed the purse of a woman going to work at the Union Grill.
Clark Monroe Headrick Jr., 23, of Apollo, is accused of grabbing the purse of Missy Brach.
Headrick apparently followed Brach to the entrance of the restaurant at 13 E. Wheeling St. about 4:15 p.m. He allegedly knocked her to the ground and tried to grab her purse.
Police said Brach hung onto her purse and kicked at Headrick. She eventually let go of the purse, and police said he ran east on Wheeling. Brach gave police a description of her attacker. A man matching the description, later identified as Headrick, was found behind the George Washington hotel near Schaffer and Cherry avenues. Brach identified him as the man who stole her purse.
Sgt. Michael Sulerud, who filed the charges, said Brach had parked in the Washington Federal Bank lot on the corner of South Main and West Wheeling streets.
“She crossed Main and saw him standing there,” Sulerud said. “The next thing she knew, he grabbed her purse and threw her down.”
Headrick told Sulerud that he had left a South Strabane Township rehabilitation center.
Brach was checked by paramedics and told police she planned to see her own doctor.
Headrick was arraigned before District Judge Larry Hopkins on charges of robbery, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, harassment and disorderly conduct. He was placed in the Washington County jail on $35,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 7 before District Judge Robert Redlinger.