Surveillance Video Shows Retired Tulsa Police Major Fight Off Man Accused Of Attempted Theft

A retired Tulsa Police Major is sharing her story after she said she fought off someone who stole her purse, and tried to steal her car.

The woman in her 70s said instinct took over. Lynn Jones said not only is she older, she is fighting cancer. And she hopes by sharing that, she can inspire others.

Surveillance video shows the moment Jones stopped the suspect from driving off in her car at the 15th and Utica CVS.

"I reached into the car, with two hands grabbed his hair on either side of his head, and I pulled him out of the car. I mean, I just yanked him out of the car,” she said.

Jones said it all started when Cody Bettis, who is now in the Tulsa County Jail accused of robbery, fell off his bike then started hitting the side of her car. When she asked him what he was doing, Jones said Bettis accused her of knocking him off his bike, then things escalated.

She said Bettis grabbed her purse, pushed her down and got into the car, but not for long.

“He ended up on the ground,” Jones said. “He got back up. He was still in control of my purse. And he punched me in the face, which knocked me down. And then he took off."

Thanks to a Good Samaritan, Jones got her purse back right away.

"He apparently had witnessed everything. And he ran right into the guy and grabbed the purse out of his hands and walked back to me and gave me my purse,” she said.

Jones has a broken pinky, but that's nothing for her. After everything she's seen, she knows things could have been much worse.

"One of the very first homicides I worked in the police department when I came on was an 80-year-old woman walking out of a Skaggs-Albertsons and a guy grabbed her purse, she fell to the floor, fell to the ground, hit her head on concrete and died,” Jones recalled.

Jones and her husband called 911, and police found Bettis this week and arrested him.

"It was a very strange, small encounter,” Jones said. “But it shows that Tulsa has a real problem with homeless and people who act out. I mean who attacks an older woman? It's just silly."