Moment tourist busts pickpocket, grabs her hair
Footage of the dramatic incident, which took place last Thursday, shows the furious woman gripping the teen girl by the hair in front of a crowd of onlookers in the world-famous Italian city.
The mum of eight was able to track down her stolen purse by using the 'Find My Friends' feature on her AirPods, which were inside it, according to her daughter, Karis McElroy, who shared the original video of the confrontation on TikTok.
Karis' mum was on holiday in Venice with her stepdad when they were crowded by a group of girls on a narrow bridge, and soon realised that her backpack had been unzipped and her purse containing her credit cards, cash and passport was missing, along with a metal water bottle.
'Her and my stepdad immediately started tracking her purse through her AirPods on Find My Friends, and they were able to track it down back to those three girls,' Karis said in a subsequent video.
'So she goes and chases them down, and she grabs one of the girls by her ponytail and does not let go. Two of the girls stay, one of the girls runs away with my mum's purse,' she went on.
'She said she didn't care about any of the other stuff in the bag, but she just at least wanted her passport so she could get home,' she said.
The Airbnb host told Karis' mum that the trio were a well-known group of pickpockets in Venice and stood with her while they waited for the cops to apprehend the teenagers.
All the while, the girl being held by the ponytail was screaming, with no effect on Karis' mum.
'I have eight kids, you're not getting to me,' the mum tells the suspected teen pickpocket.
'The police officers came, and they were about to arrest these girls when the girl that had the bag over her shoulder went and swung it and hit my mum, and it hit my mum in the head,' Karis said.
'And in the bag was that metal water bottle that they took from my mum. So my mum had a massive gash on her head, and it was bleeding everywhere. She got a black eye from it, and the girls were arrested. And then my mum had to go to the hospital and get some stitches.'
The third girl got a train to the airport where she was stopped and Karis' mum's passport recovered, along with her credit cards, although she didn't get the cash and AirPods back, Karis said.
Despite her traumatic experience, Karis said her mum had stressed how kind everyone else in Venice had been, with a jewellery store owner next door to her Airbnb even gifting her a necklace.
The couple, from North Carolina, are currently on a Mediterranean cruise after boarding a ship in Venice, Karis said.
The girl who was yanked by the ponytail and subsequently arrested is only 14 years old, and was released on bail just two days later, Italian outlet Il Messaggero reported.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
8 hours ago
- West Australian
JENI O'DOWD: Attention-hungry activism only lasts as long as people watch, and it's time to look away
There's activism, and then there's attention-hungry people like Tash Peterson. One fights for change, the other strips down, screams in restaurants and begs strangers for $30,000 to fund a trip to Britain because she's bankrupt. If this is the face of animal rights in Australia, no wonder most people roll their eyes and order another steak. Peterson, 31, has spent years perfecting the art of spectacle. She's stormed restaurants with a speaker blaring the 'screams of terrified animals', smeared herself in fake blood outside luxury stores and hurled abuse at butchers who are simply earning a living. She has even turned up topless in supermarkets, slogans scrawled across her body, ensuring the cameras caught every angle. In another spectacle, she marched semi-nude through public streets holding placards. Each performance was filmed, uploaded and designed for maximum outrage clicks. It's not activism. It's theatre. Then she went one step too far: in 2021, she and her partner Jack Higgs walked into a Perth vet clinic, filmed two cockatiels in a cage and falsely accused respected veterinarian Dr Kay McIntosh of 'eating her own patients'. They uploaded the footage online. McIntosh sued. Last year, the Supreme Court of WA found the accusations defamatory, ordering her to pay $280,000 in damages. Neither Peterson nor Higgs has reportedly paid a cent. Instead, they declared bankruptcy in May and were forced to surrender their passports. And now, rather than take responsibility for the harm they caused, they are asking strangers on GoFundMe to fund a $30,000 bond to unlock their passports so Peterson can keep touring her circus. 'We are bankrupt and need $30,000 to get to the UK for the Vegan Camp Out,' she said in a video on social media. 'The only purpose of our trip is to speak up for non-human animals. Not to run away,' she told Yeah right. Why don't you leave GoFundMe for donations for things that really matter, like paying for a child's funeral or helping a mother fund her cancer treatment? And why has she set up the page anyway, as she earns an eye-watering sum of money from her OnlyFans account, which she created 'because I think women should be able to do whatever the hell they want to with their bodies'. On that point, she is right. But let's not pretend it isn't part of the same ecosystem of self-promotion. Her notoriety as an activist fuels her subscriptions, her subscriptions bankroll more stunts and the cycle of outrage continues. What she presents as radical resistance is, in fact, a business model which only works as long as she stays controversial. Court evidence from the vet case showed she'd banked more than $400,000 by the end of the 2021/22 financial year, mainly from OnlyFans. She also earns money from her social media accounts. speaking engagements and even merchandise — if you want to pay US$40 for a tasteless t-shirt stating 'Eat Pussy, Not Animals.' Still, she won't pay the court-ordered damages to a vet who's actually dedicated their life to saving animals. Not much respect there. I don't have a problem with veganism. Animals should be treated decently and, when the time comes, put down in a way that isn't cruel. But it's a choice. Just as someone can choose to cut out meat, someone else can decide to order a chicken parmi. They don't need a pair of boobs shoved in their face to convince them otherwise. Australia is one of the most carnivorous nations on earth, eating about 103kg of meat per person each year. Chicken alone is served in seven out of 10 households every week. What I've never seen is Tash Peterson sitting down to have an actual, reasoned conversation about why Australians should give up meat. There are no solid facts, no talk about health or economics or sustainability, just shock stunts and tasteless Holocaust comparisons that turn people off. The irony is that other advocates are doing the work properly: doctors pointing out lower rates of heart disease, scientists warning about the cost to the planet and economists adding up the billions in meat subsidies. What Peterson is peddling is moral exhibitionism. And while she parades in fake gore for clicks, Australia continues to grapple with real crises — domestic violence killing one woman a week, child abuse destroying lives before they've even begun and homelessness forcing families to live in cars. Imagine if the same energy poured into topless protests outside David Jones was directed at those causes. In the era of influencers, Tash Peterson is a content machine whose real product is herself, making a nation of meat eaters roll their eyes while they fire up the barbecue. But like any circus act, the show only lasts as long as people keep watching. Let's look away.
News.com.au
13 hours ago
- News.com.au
Two killed including school cook after eating poisonous guacamole, as two children recover in hospital
Two people have died and two children are recovering in hospital after several people were poisoned by a toxic batch of guacamole. The fatally contaminated avocado dip was served up to unsuspecting customers at a food festival in Italy before they showed signs of botulism, The Sun reports. School cook Valeria Sollai, 62, is said to have eaten the guacamole and then was rushed to hospital. But she died on Monday after spending weeks on life support. Roberta Pitzalis, 38, also ate the same batch of guacamole at the festival in Sardinia – before dying on August 8. An autopsy confirmed Roberta died from a combination of botulism poisoning and pneumonia. Several others required hospital treatment following the horrifying ordeal at the Fiesta Latina festival. The food event took place in Monserrato, in Cagliari, between July 22-24. One boy and one girl, aged 11 and 14 respectively, remain in hospital and are reported to have eaten from the same batch of guacamole. A post-mortem for Valeria is set to take place. She showed signs of recovery before suffering a relapse and tragically dying. Her cousin Gianni Milia said: 'It's absurd that someone goes out for a relaxing evening, goes to a party, eats a sandwich and ends up in the hospital.' 'She was with her sisters, they all ate the same sandwich, but only she fell ill.' She added: 'They were celebrating their older sister's discharge from the hospital. A party turned into a tragedy.' Describing Valeria, Monserrato mayor Tomaso Locci said: 'She gave so much for our children. 'The news saddens us deeply. We will be present at the funeral as a community, as we were for Roberta Pitzalis, the other victim. 'This is a loss that affects us all.' Valeria is survived by her husband, Angelo Aru, and her son Alessandro, a police officer in Campania. In a Facebook post last month, Alessandro spoke about an unnamed patient with 'worsening neurological conditions'. He also made a heartbreaking appeal for people to be more careful with street food. He said: 'I strongly advise against eating any food sold at street stalls over the next few weeks.' The poisoned 14-year-old girl is being treated at Monserrato Policlinico hospital. Meanwhile, the 11-year-old has been flown to Rome's Gemelli Policlinico and is said to be in a serious condition. It comes amid mounting concern over food safety in Italy following similar events across the country. Another deadly botulism outbreak was reported in the southern region of Calabria earlier this month. It also comes after two people in Italy died after eating a toxic veggie and sausage sandwich in Italy. More than a dozen people were hospitalised after eating the poisoned sandwiches from a food truck near the town of Diamante in Calabria. Tamara D'Acunto, 45, died shortly after eating the panini made with turnip greens – a vegetable similar to broccoli – last week. Luigi Di Sarno, 52, also died after taking a fatal bite from a sandwich bought from the same vendor. In total, 17 other people have so far been hospitalised with food poisoning within 24 to 48 hours of eating the sandwiches. They all showed signs of botulism – which is caused by a toxin that attacks the body's nerves. The illness can lead to muscle paralysis, breathing difficulties and death. It is typically caused by canned, preserved and fermented foods.
Perth Now
13 hours ago
- Perth Now
Rwanda-backed rebels massacre civilians in Congo
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels killed at least 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in July, Human Rights Watch says. A report by the independent, non-governmental human rights organisation released on Wednesday highlights how violence remains elevated despite the US and Qatar-backed peace talks underway. The advocacy group provided new details about the killing spree first reported by Reuters in July. It said total killings in Rutshuru territory in July may exceed 300, echoing similar findings by the United Nations last month. The report included interviews with civilians that HRW said had survived the killings, elaborating on how the attacks had taken place. One woman, who saw M23 kill her husband with a machete, described being marched all day to a river with about 70 women and children. "They told us to sit on the edge of the riverbank, and then they started shooting at us," the woman was quoted as saying. She said she survived after falling into the river without being shot. Another man said that he watched M23 rebels kill his wife and four children aged nine months to 10 years from afar, after failing to make it back in time to save them, according to the report. The killings occurred weeks after a June 27 US-brokered preliminary deal between Congo and Rwanda and peace negotiations in Qatar between Congo and M23 rebels. M23 has previously denied any role in the killings. The group did not respond to a request to comment on the report. HRW said the witness accounts indicated the attacks took place in at least 14 villages and farming areas near Virunga National Park in eastern Congo in July. Citing 25 witness accounts, medical staff, UN personnel and other sources, HRW said most victims were ethnic Hutu, with some ethnic Nande. HRW urged the UN Security Council, European Union and governments to expand sanctions, press for arrests and prosecutions, and called on Rwanda to allow UN and independent forensic experts into areas under M23 control. Reuters could not independently verify HRW's report.
