Legal Research

One of the Seattle Public Library bloggers reports on how a library patron used his stack of library books to thwart a purse-snatcher:

Recently, my sister was living in Los Angeles and visiting her neighborhood library every day to use its computers and job hunting resources. One day, as she was walking from her parked car to the library, a purse-snatcher grabbed her bag. Luckily, she was holding a drink in her hand, which made the purse handle catch on her wrist. Unluckily, she fell. The thief continued tugging on her purse until my sister heard a grunt, and her purse went slack. She looked up to see an elderly gentleman by her side.

As they waited for police to arrive, this good Samaritan told my sister that he saw the whole episode unfold in front of him, but couldn?t reach her fast enough to help. When my sister fell, this lovely man saw his opportunity and cracked the offender over the head with his stack of library books. When the police arrived, the thief was still unconscious!

My colleague's wry response to this story:  "You can't do that with a Kindle!"  My vote for the best law book to foil purse-snatchers:  Tribe's American Constitutional Law.