Orkin Technician Chases Down a Purse-Snatcher

Orkin's Darrell Johnson, was recently honored at a luncheon hosted by Emory Crawford Long Hospital for his heroic efforts to save a woman outside of the hospital from a purse-snatcher.

ATLANTA – After a day spent managing various structural pests, Orkin Route Manager Darrell Johnson found himself in pursuit of a different type of pest — a purse-snatcher.

Johnson, whose residential service route covers the Buckhead area of his native Atlanta, was on his way home from work, when he stopped by Emory Crawford Long Hospital for a daily visit with his mother, a current patient.

Still wearing his Orkin uniform, Johnson happened upon the purse-snatching in progress just after parking his car. “I heard someone screaming, looked to my right and I saw a man and a woman in a ‘tug-of-war’ with a purse,” Johnson told PCT.

Johnson followed the purse-snatcher down a dead-end alley and then cornered him in an area outside the hospital. “I told him to give me the purse, and he said, ‘What purse?’” Johnson recalled. “I told him, ‘The purse in your hand.’ He started walking towards me and I told him, ‘You are going to have to fight me unless you give up the purse.’ He dropped the purse and took off.”

Although the purse-snatcher was not caught, the purse’s owner, Melanie Vinten-Johansen, a registered nurse at Crawford Long’s Center for Heart Failure Therapy, was eternally grateful. Last week, the hospital held a luncheon to recognize Johnson. Dane Peterson, COO of Emory Crawford Long Hospital, and several hospital staff members were on hand to honor Johnson and his family for the heroic act.

“It felt good to help her out,” Johnson said. “I have four sisters and a mom and I wouldn’t want something like that to happen to them. I would want someone to step up and help them out.”

Johnson has been with Orkin for 18 years.