MUGGING VICTIM PRAISES FOOTBALL HERO

Kitwana Jones takes a break during a training camp practice.

Photograph by: Rick MacWilliam, Edmonton Journal

When Kitwana Jones streaked past Muriel Wright on Tuesday morning, chasing the man who had just stolen her purse and laptop, she had no idea he was a member of the Edmonton Eskimos defence.

"I just saw somebody running by me and I thought, 'Oh that's nice, maybe I can stop,' Wright said Wednesday.
Wright was walking to work Tuesday morning when she saw a man walking toward her. As she moved over so they could pass, he wrestled away her purse and laptop.

"I'm four-foot-10, so everyone is tall, but he was tall. He had to bend over to get his hand around the handles of my purse and laptop," Wright said.
Despite the size disadvantage, Wright took off after the robber.

"Like I had any chance," she said, laughing. "But I did run after him, I did yell for help. A lady stopped her car and I asked her if she'd call 911 as I was running by."

An older man saw what was happening and tried to get in the assailant's way, "but he just went right through him," Wright said.

It was around then that Jones, on his way to the premier's Capital Ex breakfast, saw what was happening. He got out of his car and ran the man down. The lineman held the suspect down while another woman stayed with Wright until the police arrived.

"I was just so grateful that someone was helping me and I feel like such a twit, because he could have gotten hurt. Whether he was an Eskimo or not, he could have got hurt," she said.
Of course, she had no idea her saviour was an Edmonton Eskimo until the story hit the news.

"I didn't know who he was. I don't follow football, although maybe now I will," she said.
"He was just a nice guy to me. He was just a nice little sweetheart."

Wright had never been robbed before, and was shaken up by the experience. She said she decided to go public with her story because it has a good ending and because everything was so frantic at the time she didn't get a chance to properly thank everyone who helped her.

"I didn't have a chance to thank the lady that stayed with me, I didn't thank the other man who helped out, I didn't really have a chance to thank Mr. Jones at the end," she said.

"I just want to thank everybody because I think it's just absolutely fantastic that in a city the size of Edmonton, that many people would stop to help. It's amazing to me that people can do these things, to help someone they don't know."

ldrake@thejournal.canwest.com