Vuitton purse stolen, strangers help

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A KRQE News 13 crew saw people running in downtown Albuquerque Wednesday, chasing a young woman who had just snatched a very expensive purse from a tourist.

Next thing you know, the crew and a lot of other people were in the middle of it all.

Witnesses say it all began at the Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Albuquerque. Kelly Engle said she spotted Lara Sullivan hanging out in the lobby near the Starbucks.

"I just kept watching her and because I was on the phone, I think she didn't think I was paying attention," Engle said.

Engle said she saw Sullivan take off with a purse that belonged to another woman, Victoria Hunt, who was sitting in the hotel lobby.

"All of a sudden I heard a woman say 'is that your purse, someone just grabbed your purse,' so I darted out after to run after her and we were screaming across the street." Hunt said.

The two women ran after Sullivan screaming that she swiped a purse. A KRQE News 13 crew was at a traffic light and saw the women running across the street, screaming for help.

Sullivan ran into the Galleria and within seconds she was caught.  Two men held her down, including a KRQE News 13 photographer, to restrain her until APD arrived.

They said they had to hold Sullivan because she was kicking and fighting, trying to get away.  

Victoria Hunt got her purse back, a very expensive and special Louis Vuitton. 

"It's something my husband gave me as a birthday gift that I always thought I would like to have.  So he saved and bought it for me.  It was very sweet and meaningful to me," she said.

That purse also had her wallet and plane ticket home to Los Angeles.  She said she would have lost it all had it not been for many strangers, including Engle.

"I know these things can happen anywhere, and that we have a good Samaritan that saw what happened, she didn't have to do what she did," Hunt said.

APD charged Sullivan with purse snatching and drug possession.