Man charged in Friday purse snatching in Downtown Gadsden

James Luther Haney

Gadsden police have charged a man with second-degree robbery after he allegedly grabbed a woman’s purse on Broad Street at about noon Friday.

30 year old James Luther Haney, was charged after he went to the Etowah County Detention Center and turned himself just after the robbery occurred.

According to the victim, Haney had been behind her on Broad Street for a while before he grabbed her purse and tried to run away with it in the 400 block. She struggled with him over the purse and was dragged a short distance before her purse strap broke. A pair of men stopped and tackled the suspect, but he feigned some kind of medical problem to get them to let go, then he ran again. During the struggles, his wallet became dislodged and left behind. Before police were away from the scene on Broad Street, they’d learned the suspect had gone to the county lock-up on his own.