What started as an ordinary Monday turned into a midday chase when Kamal Singh, owner of SuperPrice Furniture in Thames, sprang into action after a customer had her handbag snatched just outside his store.
On July 14, Kamal was working in his Pollen St store when a man, clad in a black hoodie, grabbed a woman’s handbag and bolted.
Kamal recognised the woman as a past customer and, feeling “a little panicked”, rushed outside to her and her neighbour.
“I said: ‘Please keep an eye on the shop, I will go and try to get your bag’.”
And just like that, the chase was on.
Fifty metres stood between Kamal and the alleged bag-snatcher.
Kamal started running on the opposite side of the road; running, he says, to the best of his abilities on a day he decided to wear loose, heavy clothes not designed for a pursuit.
The offender weaved through the Thames High School grounds, down Mackay St and along Richmond St, and Kamal followed him every step of the way, coming face to face with him down a service lane.
“I got really close to him, like face to face, but there was the mesh fence in between… I thought I could take him down, but he wasn’t stopping. He was just like, running constantly. Because he was young, he just kept running and running.”
At this point, other members of the public were also in pursuit of the man, and Kamal suggested they keep an eye on Sealey St, in case he showed up there.
“But as I’m walking back towards Mackay St, out of nowhere, he appears just behind me,” he says. “He must have been like two, three steps away. And that’s when I knew: this is the only chance I have to grab him.”
Kamal is six foot two. He has long arms. But by the time he closed the distance, clutching the man’s hoodie and dragging him to the ground, he was drained.
“He was exhausted. I was exhausted. It was almost like, oh, thank God this is all over. Let’s just take a breath.”
But the ordeal wasn’t quite finished – the alleged bag-snatcher threw some punches and even bit Kamal during the struggle.
“I don’t really remember, to be honest, whether he bit me or not. It was only when I got back to the shop that I saw there were bite marks.”
Kamal recalls that the Police soon arrived, cuffed the man, and assured him the handbag would be returned to his customer. When he made it back to his shop – which he’s owned for six years – the two hugged.
“We were all shaken,” he says. “She sat down, I gave her water. I had some water, too.”
It wasn’t long before people came into the shop, calling Kamal a hero and commending him for his goodwill, but he tells The Profile that it was a collective effort that day.
“I felt good that I could help, and I felt really happy that everybody joined together to catch this guy. I couldn’t have done it alone, for sure. You know, you get a bit more strength when there’s four or five people standing behind you.”
And on the offender himself, Kamal believes he was a young man, seemingly under the influence.
He hopes the incident will be a turning point in his life.
“You see all these things on TV, YouTube, and TikTok, but when it actually happens to you, when it’s happening to your own community, your own members, it is shocking.
“It didn’t happen after seven o’clock in the evening. It happened between 12 o’clock, one o’clock, in the middle of the street, in the busiest block of the town.
“But I have to say, I’m absolutely concerned about the young guy, too.
“I hope this whole incident will be one of those incidents where he will look back and say: ‘Oh, shit, I’m never going to do this ever again’ and then he goes to live a good life.
“And I really hope,” Kamal says, “he’ll come back to me after 10 years and say: ‘Hey, you got me’.”
Waikato Eastern Area Commander Inspector Michael Henwood said Police received a report at 1.10pm on Monday, July 14 that a woman’s bag was taken after she withdrew money from an ATM on Pollen Street.
The alleged offender was chased down Pollen Street by a local shopkeeper, where they and other members of the public held onto the offender. Before Police arrived, the shopkeeper was then assaulted by the offender. There were no significant injuries reported.
A 19-year-old man appeared in the Hamilton District Court the following day and was bailed to reappear in the Thames District Court on August 18 on charges of robbery and aggravated assault.
BY KELLEY TANTAU
