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Star College Quarterback Makes Finest Tackle Off the Field Catching Purse Snatcher
Football training came in handy for a college quarterback who became a local hero after tackling a purse snatcher.
On November 5, the University of Rochester Yellowjackets’ star player Daniel Bronson applied his skills off the field to take down a thief targeting elderly women outside an Italian restaurant where Bronson and his girlfriend had been dining to celebrate a record-setting game earlier that day.
Bronson told Buffalo News he was leaving the restaurant when he spotted a suspicious looking man walking past him with his hoodie on and his head down. Thinking nothing of it he kept on his way until he saw the man in the parking lot run up to a 73-year-old woman using a cane, snatching her purse right from her arms. Bronson recalled, “She screamed, ‘Help! Help!'”
The 21-year-old college junior who was the 2014 Eastern College Athletic Conference Rookie of the year with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions, quickly reacted as he’s trained to do on the field. He chased the culprit through the parking lot and into a nearby trailer park. He said, “I was kind of in shock for a minute. I knew he was going to get away if I didn’t do anything. I’m in pretty good shape, if I may say so, and I knew I could catch him.”
Bronson tackled the crook to the ground like an opposing player blocking his way to a touchdown and put him in a choke hold until police arrived to arrest him. The 190-pound, six-footer was unaware he took down a wanted man for previously pushing an 87-year-old woman down causing her to break her arm and sustain a possible fractured nose and multiple abrasions, while robbing her of her purse in the same restaurant’s parking lot the night before.
On November 18, Rochester police honored Bronson for his bravery and assistance for bringing a suspect to justice at State Police headquarters just a short distance from where the incident occurred. Bronson, who is a native of Lockport has the personality suited to help people as he’s considered a career as a doctor or physician’s assistant while studying microbiology at the university. His father who is also the coach of his high school football team pointed to his character building from years of playing sports.
Bronson humbly said he was in the right place at the right time to help someone out. “It makes you kind of wonder. Someone puts you in the right place at the right time. I hope anyone would have done that. I really don’t think I did anything out of the ordinary.”
The granddaughter of the injured victim would disagree. She reached out to Bronson on Facebook to personally thank him.