Funeral procession rescues elderly woman from purse snatcher

SAN ANTONIO, April 10 (UPI) -- A San Antonio, Texas, funeral procession halted when mourners spotted a 79-year-old woman being attacked by an alleged purse snatcher.

Robert Garcia, a member of the Wednesday funeral procession, said motorists spotted the elderly woman struggling with her alleged attacker about 11 a.m.

"We were going really, really slow so as we passed this bus stop there was this elderly lady [and] a gentleman was knocking her around and was pulling on her purse," Garcia told KSAT-TV.

"That was just totally unexpected. Before I turned around about eight of the mourners were all around him getting him down, and then we flagged the police officer that was guiding the procession," Garcia said.

Garcia said he was glad to be able to help the woman.

"That could be anybody's grandmother sitting there waiting for the bus," he said.

The struggle between the mourners and the suspect, who was still holding the woman's purse, was recorded on a cellphone video.

The 79-year-old woman was taken to University Hospital with unspecified injuries.

The alleged attacker, Joe Carpenter, 41, was arrested on a charge of aggravated robbery.