CHICO, Calif. - People are fond of saying there's never a cop around when you need one. Chico resident Jean Strickland would disagree. Strickland, 25, was leaving the Safeway store on East Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when she said two teenage girls approached as she was placing her 2-year-old son into a car seat. "Thank you, b----," one of the girls reportedly said, as she grabbed Strickland's purse from a shopping cart. She began chasing the girls out of instinct, but only got about 20 feet when she remembered her son was in the car. A passerby loaned Strickland his cellular phone so she could call police. "I decided to just go home to cancel all my credit cards and deactivate my cell phone," Strickland said, hoping she wouldn't become one of thousands victimized daily by identity theft. Shortly after getting home, Strickland called police again because she forget to describe her purse. She was surprised to hear an officer had caught the girl who stole it, and he was on the way to her home to return it. Only then did she learn that off-duty Chico police officer Justin Adrian had witnessed the whole incident. He was on his way to work a graveyard shift, and had stopped for coffee, said Lt. Lori MacPhail. MacPhail said the two girls split up, and Adrian chased the one with the purse across a street. The girl reportedly attempted to hide under a car, but Adrian pulled her out and recovered the property. The girl is 17. Strickland said she was too shocked by the suddenness of the theft to yell at the girls or scream for help. She said her car was parked in the first row, about 30 feet from the store's main entrance. She said she was pleasantly surprised that the off-duty officer got involved. "It's one of those stories with a happy ending that are few and far between," she said. Strickland said she'll write a thank you letter to Adrian, and MacPhail said a letter of commendation will be sent to Police Chief Bruce Hagerty.
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