(Memphis) A Midtown woman and her young daughter will never forget their latest trip to the dentist.
Police say the mother was mugged going into the dentist’s office on South Cleveland.
The suspect, however, didn’t get far.
Michael Tate is charged with the crime, and was caught just minutes after the robbery.
“He just grabbed her purse when she was walking in the door,” said the dentist, who didn’t want to be named in this story.
The Midtown dentist says when a mother and her 4-year-old daughter were walking into his office Tuesday, a man who spotted the mother on the street decided to make her his target.
The dentist say the victim was about to walk into his office when the man grabbed her purse and tried to book it through the lobby’s front door.
Problem was, one of the doors was locked so when he slammed into the door, he ended up breaking the glass.
The woman’s husband was in the dentist’s office and heard his wife’s screams.
“He decided to chase the purse snatcher on foot.”
Both the husband and wife chased after the robber who, the dentist says, ended up dropping the woman’s purse on the road and then bumping into police officers down the street.
“They surrounded the block where they thought he went and I think with K-9s they found him within 20 minutes.”
Police arrested Tate for the robbery and also charged him with vandalism for shattering the building’s glass door, which is now fixed.
“The little girl went ahead and got her teeth cleaned,’ said the dentist.
After all the drama, the dentist says the victim’s four-year-old seemed unphased by it all.
He gave her a balloon for her brave trip to the dentist.