When will things turn around?  There is so much crime and corruption these days it seems hopeless.  How can we change direction and restore our nation to greatness?  Like Peter Finch's crazed anchor man in the motion picture Network, we're "mad as Hell" and we're "not going to take it anymore!"  The question remains, what can any of us do to stem the tide?

This past Sunday Monique Lawless showed three shoplifters that she's not going to take it anymore.  The Houston Chronicle reports that the diminutive 42-year-old mother of two from Alvin, Texas witnessed three young men shoplifting three cases of beer from the local Walmart when she sprang into action.

Lawless, an engineering safety specialist at Boeing, was in like at the Alvin Walmart Supercenter just before noon Sunday when she saw the men enter the store and quickly leave with the beer.  She informed the sales clerk, who waved at a Walmart greeter to stop them.  He briefly detained two of the suspects, but they broke loose to join the third man in their getaway car.

Lawless asked the clerk to watch her purse and took off in hot pursuit of the suspects.  "I just started running towards the car, jumped on the hood and was kicking the front windshield, trying to kick the windshield in."  Lawless was screaming "You punks, you are not going to get away with this" as customers in the parking lot looked on in disbelief.  Ms. Lawless jumped on the roof of the vehicle and tried to kick in the sunroof as the perpetrators fueled her anger by laughing at her efforts.  Eventually the suspects drove away as Lawless was briefly dragged along the pavement before letting go.

The crime busting Lawless received various scratches, scrapes and bruises along with a broken lip, but declined medical treatment at the scene.  Alvin's citizen crime fighter said "I'm just sick of the lawlessness," and said she would more than likely do it again, "but I probably throw a shopping cart in front of the car instead of jumping on the hood and roof."

Alvin police Captain Chad Fontenot said that although he applauds Ms. Lawless' courage in trying to stop the suspects, she could have been seriously injured, saying "she put herself in grave danger" by confronting the three men.  Fontenot said that "the best people can do is to be a great witness," adding that they should try to get the license plate number and an accurate description of the vehicle.

The three suspects were arrested after an hour long chase that ended at the Walmart store in Pearland, Texas.  

 

The three men, who are brothers, were in the Brazoria County Jail on Monday facing charges of felony evading arrest and aggravated robbery.  Sylvester Andre Thompson, 21, Sylvester Durlentren Thompson, 21, and Sylvester Primitivo Thompson, 19, live at 4925 Harbin in Santa Fe.

Monique Lawless may not have exercised the best judgment by putting herself in harm's way in trying to stop those three young men singlehanded, but she certainly made a statement. 

June 24, 2011

paboehmke@yahoo.com