Once a week for the last several years, Barbara Martinez has gone to lunch at a West Side Subway restaurant.
Martinez said it's a nice place where she can eat and read a book, the food is good and she likes the quality of the service.
But she had no idea that one employee would go above and beyond sandwich-making duties for her during a tense situation earlier this week.
Martinez was the victim of a theft Tuesday afternoon as she sat at the restaurant, 1503 W. Saint Mary's Road, at about 1:30 p.m.
"I was eating lunch and reading a book and had my purse sitting next to me on a chair," Martinez said. "I saw these two guys come in and they looked very suspicious — they didn't buy any food or anything to drink and they were just sitting there, checking everything out, looking very nervous."
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Martinez decided she would keep an eye on the men, but they soon walked outside, she said. Shortly thereafter, Martinez said one of the men came back in, walked up to her table, grabbed her purse and ran out of the restaurant. The purse- snatcher left on a bicycle.
"One of the girls who works there ran and got her car and followed the guys," Martinez said. "Then there were two girls who I guess saw what happened and they also got in a car and began following."
Soon enough, Martinez said, the employee and the two other girls had the thief cornered at West St. Mary's and North Grande Avenue.
Meanwhile, the manager of Subway was calling 911 and Martinez waited for an officer to arrive. Officers arrested one of the two men.
Ramon Ray Ruiz, 35, was arrested on suspicion of theft and booked into the Pima County jail. He was also arrested on an unrelated failure to appear charge for having a suspended license.
The other man is described as being 25 to 30 years old.
The restaurant employee and the two others even retrieved Martinez's purse, which had been thrown in the middle of the street, and collected all of the belongings that fell out.
Martinez said she was amazed at the lengths everyone went to help her out.
"I thought everyone was great, especially the girl who works at Subway," Martinez said. "She has waited on me quite a few times and I told her today 'you're really brave, I don't know if I would have done that.' "
Martinez said she will continue to frequent that Subway. "I told them they have a customer for life and the manager laughed and said 'that just goes to show what we do for our customers.' "
The employee, whose full name was not available, could not be reached for comment.
The Tucson Police Department advises against placing yourself in harm's way but agreed with Martinez that the actions taken by the employee and the two bystanders did help in making the arrest.
"We encourage the public to take their own personal safety into consideration before acting on incidents like this," said Officer Dallas Wilson, a police spokesman.
