Passerby helps chase purse snatcher

NORFOLK, Va. - Joseph Crayne's had his Harley since 2005. Sunday morning he took a ride he won't soon forget.

"Just went down Meadowlake, see this lady on the road and a few people standing beside her and she was saying, 'that car, that white car,'" said Crayne.

Without a second thought, Crayne started chasing that white car. He had no idea who the driver was or what she had allegedly done.

"I thought she ran the lady over," said Crayne.

Not quite, but Crayne wasn't too far off. Just moments before, Jeanette Balazsi says a woman grabbed her purse from a shopping cart at the Food Lion in the 62-hundred block of Military Highway.

Balazsi, determined to stop her, got on the hood of her car.

"She starts swerving back and forth, shaking me back and forth. I'm holding on with all my might. I spread my legs out, trying to hold on with my legs," said Balazsi.

Police say the driver of the car was 32-year-old Jennifer Jones. A quarter mile later, Balazsi jumped off Jones' car.

As her wild ride ended, Crayne's began.

He says he chased her for 25 minutes through four neighborhoods.

"I could always hear the tires...she almost hit a couple of cars. She probably almost hit ten people at the crosswalk of the church," said Crayne.

She even hit Crayne. He says he got right back on his damaged bike and continued after her.

"I wanted to catch her because I was mad as hell she recked me, tried to kill me," said Crayne, still not knowing why he was chasing Jones in the first place. "I'm just glad I could help," he explained.

Police arrested Jones on Chesapeake Boulevard. They say she was drunk and had Jeanette's wallet. She also had her 1-year-old in the back seat.

As for Crayne's brave ride, he's more impressed with the one Balazsi took.

"She's got guts too. She looked better on the news than she did laying on Meadowlake Drive. I'm glad she's alright though," joked Crayne.