Young women on phone lead police to thief

Two young Leaside women helped make an arrest one evening this fall by following a thief while talking to the police on a cell phone.

When arrested at the corner of Parkhurst and Hanna, a young man was carrying a stolen cell phone, credit and debit cars, and a fake gun he used in the robberies.

The women, Martha Parker, 24, and her long-time friend (who prefers her family name not be used), followed the man when they found out he’d stolen a cell phone from the friend’s younger sister. 

So enraged at what he had done, particularly when she heard he had waved the fake gun at her sister, the older sister said, “Let’s follow him and call the police.”

“I couldn’t let her go alone,” said Parker. “So we followed him up Rumsey, over to Airdrie, across Crofton and then up to Parkhurst. When we got to the corner of Parkhurst and Hanna three police cruisers pulled up and made the arrest.

“A couple of times we lost him when he’d turn a corner.  The police stayed on the phone every step of the way talking with us and keeping track of where we were.”

The police thanked the girls for helping make the arrest and returned the cell phone.

Parker credits her friend for having the courage to set out after the thief: “She was Batman. I was just Robin.”