Army Veteran Delivers Instant Justice To Purse Thief In Walmart, Takes Him Down

When a thief made his move on an unsuspecting New Hampshire woman, who was finishing up some shopping at a local Walmart, the last thing he expected was to be given a dose of instant justice from an Army veteran. But, that’s exactly what happened.

Army veteran Rick White was shopping at his local Manchester Walmart when he was alerted to a problem unfolding right in front of him by the screams of a woman. That woman was 51-year-old Rhonda Healey, who had been looking at greeting cards when a thief took off with her wallet.

The thief thought he had found an easy target when he spotted Healey’s wallet sitting in her wide-open purse in the front of her shopping cart, but White, an Army Drill Sergeant who had just recently returned home from a 9-month deployment in Afghanistan, was going to teach the thug otherwise.

“Stop him, he has my wallet,” a distressed Healey yelled. Hearing Healey’s screams, the 43-year-old Army veteran leaped into action without hesitation, going after the much younger suspect who he saw take off running in a black hooded sweatshirt.

Before the purse snatcher knew what hit him, White slammed the thief to the ground as the thug was trying to make a dash for the exit.

After grabbing the arm of the suspect and taking him to the ground, White pinned him down in an arm-bar, subduing him until authorities arrived as onlookers snapped photos of the impressive scene.

The suspect was later identified by police as 24-year-old Alan White — not to be confused with or any known relation to the good Samaritan Army veteran Rick White. Alan White, who police say is homeless, was arrested and charged with theft.

“I grabbed him and tossed him to the ground,” Rick White explained, according to WCVB5. “He tried to hit and grab me. I sat on him until the police came. I brought his arm up and said, ‘give me your other hand or I’ll break this one.’ And he gave me his other hand, and that was it,” White added.

Further describing what went down in the Walmart aisle that day, White explained, “I put him in a wrist lock and put him in an arm-bar and when I did that, it took the fight right out of him.”

Related Posts

A Return Framed by Warning, Not Nostalgia

The reemergence of George W. Bush feels less like a political comeback and more like a quiet critique of how Washington now operates. His message doesn’t single out a…

A Procedural Test with Political Consequences

A push by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is putting renewed pressure on Republicans to decide how far they are willing to go in advancing election-related legislation. By encouraging the…

A Routine Stop, a Human Story: When Enforcement and Desperation Collide

What began as a routine checkpoint inspection quickly escalated into something far more serious. Authorities conducting standard procedures noticed unusual behavior, and a trained canine unit signaled…

Birthright Citizenship Debate Rekindles a Fundamental Question of Belonging

A new executive action tied to Donald Trump has reignited one of the most consequential constitutional debates in modern American life: who is entitled to citizenship at birth. The…

More Than a Dinner: What One Valentine’s Night Revealed About Us

Valentine’s Day had always meant something to me, even in its simplest form. That evening, my boyfriend surprised me with a reservation at one of the city’s…

What We Inherit Isn’t Always What We Expect

When my father died, he left me his house—a place layered with years of shared life, familiar routines, and quiet memories. I had already been living there,…