‘I HAD TO SAVE MY MOM’
Police honor girl’s robber clobber
He messed with the wrong mom. A 9-year-old Florida girl is being hailed a hero by local cops after fighting off a robber earlier this month by slugging him in his face after he knocked her mom over and grabbed her purse.
West Palm Beach police officials on Thursday honored Journee Nelson for her bravery in the Nov. 2 attack outside a local supermarket, giving the courageous child a medal, certificate and a Target gift card, the Miami Herald reported.
Surveillance video shows Danielle Mobley and young Journee walking up to their car in the grocery store parking lot when a man — identified as 29-year-old Demetrius Jackson — suddenly runs at the mother and tackles her to the ground.
While the man and Mobley struggle over her purse, Journee runs around the car to help her mother, throwing a series of punches at the much larger thug’s face.
“I fought back,” Journee told WSVN in Miami. “I had to save my mom.”
After being pushed to the floor in the scuffle, Journee got up and chased the suspect about five blocks.
Jackson got away with Mobley’s purse, which contained a cellphone, gum, several bank cards, a Coach wallet, $40 cash and her concealed carry permit, the Miami Herald reported, citing an arrest affidavit.
Cops caught up with Jackson two days after the attack and charged him with robbery and battery.
West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley commended the pint-sized crime fighter for her bravery but cautioned citizens against taking matters into their own hands.
“I wouldn’t recommend that you confront an individual like that, but in the heat of the moment things happen,” Adderley said while honoring Journee. “I bet he was shocked . . . because [you] definitely could tell on the video that he was not expecting that, and her actions were perfect timing in this particular situation, and I think she hit him pretty hard.”
“I’m very proud of her; that was her initial reaction,” Mobley told WSVN. “I wish . . . sometimes things could be a little different because she is still dealing with this mentally.”