December 22, 2021
Ohio Man Deshawn Pressley Honored After Running Down Purse Snatcher Who Attacked 87-Year Old Woman
A Black man in Ohio is being showered with praise and is being honored by the local sheriff’s office after he chased down a purse snatcher who attacked and robbed an elderly woman in a supermarket.
On Dec. 5. Deshawn Pressley was in the store with his 1-year old daughter when he struck up a conversation with Pat Goins, an 87-year old woman. When the two split to go in separate checkout lines, the thief, Derek Vaughn, struck.
“I heard her screaming and yelling … it was the yell that I need help,” Pressley said. “And I just turned around and did what I needed to do as a citizen,” Pressley told Fox News.
Goins said Vaughn did not attack her and was only interested in the $60 she has in her purse. Word of Pressley’s heroics quickly got out and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones presented Pressley with the Citizen’s Award last Thursday.
‘You make us very very proud, not just here, but [everywhere] in the country,’ the sheriff said to applause.
Pressley was honored to receive the award, but he was also happy to be reunited with the woman he helped.
“I’m glad that he received this honor because he’s my hero,” Pat Goins told FOX19 Cincinnati.
When a reporter asked Pressley during the award ceremony if Vaughn was shocked he was giving chase he said yes.
“He was running and looking back, running and looking back, and I was like ‘yeah, I’m on your a–,” Pressley said to laughs from those present.
Pressley and Goings have become fast friends over the incident and plan to remain in contact.