A Houston woman personified the slogan "Don't mess with Texas" when she chased down and tackled a backpack thief who interrupted her morning routine at a local coffee shop.
The woman, identified only as Claudia, was typing on a laptop outside Uncle Bean's Coffee in the Woodland Heights neighborhood when two other women approached and one snatched her bag from a nearby chair.
"She wasn't gentle. Maybe if she would have been gentle taking the backpack, I would haven't noticed, but she was pretty abrupt," Claudia told local TV station WTRK on Friday. "It startled me, and that's when I reached out and started running."
A surveillance camera recorded the action as Claudia sprang up and chased the thief into the middle of the street, where she pulled the woman to the pavement and grabbed her backpack as they scuffled on Thursday.
Claudia said she's been having coffee at Uncle Bean's nearly every morning for the past six weeks and was "just on automatic" when she reacted to the theft.
"Nothing ever happened. That's why I was so startled," she said.
Claudia also credited sports training with getting her "in shape to run after them" and retrieve her bag, which held her U.S. and Cuban passports and an irreplaceable book made by her nieces.
Claudia said she flagged down a police officer and reported the incident but both suspects remained at large Friday and anyone with information was urged to contact authorities, WTRK said.
