Man arrested after purse snatched at Southern Park Mall

Man arrested after purse snatched at Southern Park Mall

BOARDMAN — Boardman police arrested a 19-year-old New Middletown man after a woman accused him of robbing her in the parking lot at Southern Park Mall.

Jarrett Nicholas Drajic of Struthers Road is facing a robbery charge, a second-degree felony.

Boardman police were dispatched to the parking lot by Dillard’s department store at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Mall security assisted a 72-year-old woman who was hurt during the incident in which the man took her purse.

The male, later identified as Drajic, fled in a burgundy Ford sedan and traveled north on California Avenue toward U.S. Route 224 after the robbery.

The Boardman Fire Department and Lane LifeTrans medics helped the victim who was laying on the ground in the parking lot, crying.

A Mall security officer told police he saw a man assault the woman and steal her purse.

Another witness also saw a man take the woman’s purse as she came out of Dillard’s.

The victim had a laceration to her left knee, elbow and possibly a head/neck injury. She was transported to St. Elizabeth Health Center. She was able to give a complete description of the suspect to police.

She also told police she saw the man standing outside the department store, but did not think anything of it and then he grabbed her purse and swung her around, which caused her to fall face first.

Police were unable to locate the vehicle the suspect got into, but a license plate number provided by witnesses led police to the suspect.