Just after 9:30 p.m., English attempted to steal 52-year-old Dora Hemp's purse, according to a Butler Township Police Department report. When Hemp refused to hand her bag over, English "threw her to the ground and struck her several times."
A pair of shoppers saw the attack, stopped English and held him to the ground until officers arrived.
"We saw him punch the lady," Frederick Goff said in a phone interview Thursday. "I had to do something."
Goff and his friend James Benson stopped the attack and apprehended English, according to police.
"He didn't care about anybody," Benson said. "He looked back at me then turned around and punched her again."
Police said Hemp's grandson was in a car seat inside her vehicle while the attack happened. The child was unharmed.
Hemp was "in and out of consciousness" when medics arrived. She was taken to Grandview Medical Center, then transported to Kettering Medical Center due to the severity of her injuries.
According to hospital officials, she had a broken nose, left orbital and cheekbone fractures, air in her left eye and no movement in her right eye. She was listed in good condition Thursday.
Benson said he didn't hesitate to tackle English when he noticed the attack.
"When I saw how brutal (the attack) was—something clicked inside me," Benson said. The pair of good samaritans were on their way to Indiana when they stopped at the store for some items.
"It was just by the grace of God that we got there at that time," Goff said.
English admitted to being the attacker after police showed him surveillance footage of the incident, officials said. He told them that he was high at the time and said "he wouldn't have done this had he not used cocaine," according to police documents.
English is charged with felonious assault and aggravated robbery, and bond was set at $250,000. Butler Township detectives said he also had an outstanding warrant from Fairborn for disorderly conduct.
He's scheduled to appear in court on April 16.
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