An off-duty Shelton cop foiled a purse-snatching at Wal-Mart Wednesday (May 18), police said.
According to a prepared statement from Detective Richard Bango, Officer Nicholas Ardizzone was pulling into the parking lot of the store on Bridgeport Avenue about 11 a.m. when he saw a man running across the parking lot with a purse.
The man — later identified as 26-year-old Shane Kral, of Trumbull — was being chased by a 70-year-old woman.
Kral got into an SUV, Bango said. Ardizzone followed it.
Kral got out of the vehicle and fled on foot, but Ardizzone gave chase and caught up with him in nearby woods, detaining him and later placing him under arrest.
“During the investigation, officers also located heroin in Kral’s possession,” Bango said.
The woman told police that after she had parked her car in the lot, she noticed Kral hunched down behind her car.
Kral then lunged at her, grabbed her purse and ran away. She was not injured.
Police charged Kral with third-degree robbery, interfering with an officer, breach of peace, possession of narcotics, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Bango said Kral was being held on a $25,000 bond and was due to appear at Superior Court in Derby Thursday (May 19).
