Off-duty officer saves the day

NEWPORT NEWS, Va (WAVY) - What would you do if someone started screaming for help in the middle of a store? Well, lucky for one Newport News woman someone jumped into action when a man tried to rob her.

It happened at the Walmart on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News Monday evening.

Young Cha, 25, was shopping for groceries when someone walked right up and took her wallet, which was stacked inside her cart with her keys and phone.

"Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing, but I mean, I really wasn't thinking anything was going to happen on a Monday night," Cha told WAVY.com.

But when she stopped to look at Valentine's Day cards, police say a thief swooped in and took advantage.

Cha said, "The next thing I know I'm screaming, 'He has my phone! He has my stuff! Somebody help me! Somebody help me!'."

Most shoppers, she recalled, just stopped and stared.

"We were running through the store, zig-zagging through the clothes. I mean, I don't know if he thought he was just going to lose me in Walmart," Cha added.

Then from out of nowhere, Cha says, a man in jeans and a t-shirt came running with a vengeance.

"[He]...tackles the guy in front of Walmart and kind of holds him down and at that point I realized it was a police officer," Cha explained.

That's right.

Turns out her hero is Officer Michael Webb, who was off duty and just happened to be shopping.

"I took him down, put my knee in the small of his back, took his arm and put it behind his back and just held him 'til other officers came," Webb said.

The man he took down, 23-year-old James Cain, is now charged with larceny.

Webb said, "We're on 24 hours. We're always working no matter where we are..."