The thief who snatched a taupe, buckle-covered bag from a young woman with a glossy black ponytail and designer sunglasses on Thursday afternoon in Queens might have thought it would be an easy crime.
His well-dressed mark was strolling in Jackson Heights, on a bare and blighted pedestrian plaza near 37th Road, off Broadway, around 1:55 p.m. It seemed he could make a getaway through the thin crowd.
He most likely did not expect the firefighter who came sprinting after him, throwing him off balance. Or the two strapping church missionaries, young men visiting from North Carolina, who hurtled into the fray and tackled him to the ground....
Dr. Bill Jones | 6/18/2008
