Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300379
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

2 TO BE HONORED BY POLICE FOR HALTING ROBBERY SUSPECT

But because it worked when two men chased and stopped a suspected robber at the New River Valley Mall over the weekend, the Police Department plans to commend them at a special ceremony next month, Police Chief Ron Lemons said Tuesday.

The two men, whose names will not be released until the ceremony, saw a woman who had left Leggett Department Store about 8 p.m. Saturday being thrown to the pavement between two cars and mugged. The mugger grabbed her purse and ran, Lemons said. The purse and contents were valued at about $360.

The two men, who Lemons said were in their 40s or 50s, chased the suspect into a cow pasture behind the mall until he stopped running. Police arrived and arrested him.

Edward Wayne Graham, 28, of Christiansburg, was arrested, charged with robbery and released on bond.

The woman, whose name was not released, was cut and bruised but otherwise fine, Lemons said.

"We were real proud of these men," Lemons said. "Maybe others will hear [about this] and be more willing to help out their neighbors."