A woman’s efforts to recover her phone stolen on the Atlanta Beltline led police to the arrest of a suspect.
Joyce Lewis said she was accosted after 10 p.m. on Tuesday night as she walked home along the Beltline near Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard.
“He attacked me from behind,” Lewis said. “I was on my phone and had groceries in both hands. I did not realize he was behind me at first.”
The thief punched her in the head several times and demanded her purse, police said.
She said she dropped her phone when the man struck her. When the phone rang and the man bent down to grab it, Lewis said she ran.
The next day, Lewis called her phone and a man answered.
“He told me he bought the phone from someone for $20 and he said he wanted $20 for it,” she said.
Lewis arranged to meet the man with her phone at a shopping center on Cascade Road early Wednesday evening. Then she informed police of the meeting.
Arriving at the appointed site, she saw her attacker lurking not far away.
“There was the guy,” Lewis said. “I couldn’t believe it. From the night before, it was surreal.”
It also appeared he recognized her, she said: “He kept staring at me.”
A pair of Atlanta Police Beltline officers on bicycles arrived, according to police incident reports.
“He tried to bolt after seeing (the officers) but was quickly overtaken by the officer on his bicycle,” Atlanta Police spokesman Sgt. Greg Lyon said.
Phillip Bright, 50, was arrested and charged with robbery. Bright had been wanted by the Fulton County Sheriffs Office for violating his probation on a 2012 sexual battery charge. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail.
Lewis acknowledged she was in the wrong place at the wrong time when she was robbed.
“I understand I should not have been outside by myself on the phone,” she said. “I’m just grateful that I got away from him and he wasn’t able to do anything.”
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