BSO, SWAT Team Round Up Suspected Purse Snatchers At Motel 6
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DANIA BEACH (CBSMiami) - It was quite the scene at a Motel 6 on Dania Beach after Broward Sheriff's deputies and SWAT swooped in to arrest several suspected purse snatchers.
It wasn't just any purse that was stolen. It belonged to a sheriff's deputy and had her cellphone and gun inside.
Davie police said the officer, who was off-duty, was pumping gas into her personal vehicle at the Shell station on SW 148th Avenue around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when a Silver Chevrolet HHR pulled up beside her.
Someone got out of the driver's side rear door, opened the deputy's door, took the purse and then drove off.
She called 911. Davie detectives used a GPS signal from the deputy's phone to track it to the motel on Dania Beach Boulevard where they found the suspects' vehicle.
The sheriff's office said one of the suspects used his real name to check into the motel. Turns out that he had two active warrants for his arrest.
Around 4 a.m., the sheriff's department moved in but the four males inside the room refused to come out.
"They were telling them to come out, yelling who it was, telling them they weren't going to wait any longer, they gonna send the K-9s in and bust open the door," said Candice Brown who was staying at the motel.
"I heard a lot of commotion," said witness Anthony Capo.
A SWAT team was called in and the motel room was "overtaken," according to the sheriff's office.
"Once they got into the room I saw them escort the guys out and laying them on the ground, one guy was sick and the police were just yelling at him," said Brown.
The sheriff's office said the two adult and two juveniles were taken into custody. After getting a search warrant they found guns, credit cards and purses.
Police said once of the guns recovered from the hotel room is that of the off-duty officer.
Officers say they don't know if this group is connected to other gas station purse snatchings that have happened in recent weeks.