Florida the rules are different here Chapter CL

That's 150 chapters for those of you counting at home.

A mugger gets chased down by a 85-year-old grandmother. Who used to be a track star in Cuba. Way to go Marta Suarez. Isn't this a great state or what.

Linked to- Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, Perri Nelson, Pursuing Holiness, Rosemary,

Marta Suarez, a gray-haired, sweet-natured, 85-year-old grandmother, must have looked like an easy mark to the mugger who grabbed her purse and took off running Wednesday in Little Havana.

But Marta Suarez is no ordinary granny.

A Cuban track star back in the 1930s, Suarez took off after the robber on Wednesday, chasing him into the path of a Miami police officer who was checking out reports of a burglar in the area.

Officer Wilfredo Perez -- who insists, maybe in jest, that Suarez was ''gaining on the guy'' -- caught and arrested Ivan Lavar Edwards, 29, of Opa-locka. Edwards, who has a long rap sheet, will be charged not only with stealing Suarez's purse but with attempted breaking-and-entering in connection with the earlier incident.

As a reward for making the arrest, Perez got a bear hug from Suarez.

Afterward, the police officer declared: ``That's a strong old lady. . . . She's really, really sweet.''

Fast, too.

Back in 1938, Suarez was a member of the Cuban team at the Central American and Caribbean Games, an equivalent of the Pan American Games in that area. Her scrapbook, brimming with photos and news articles, shows she won two medals -- a silver and a bronze -- in track events at the sports festival in Panama.

She came to the United States in 1960, has two grown grandchildren and lives on Southwest 14th Street.

Wednesday, there was a burglar loose in the neighborhood. According to police, he sheathed his fists in boxing gloves to break a window at a home in the 100 block of 24th Road. But a woman inside screamed, scaring him off. She called police.

Miami officers, who found the boxing gloves and a cellphone behind the house, said the intruder fled north and wound up at Suarez's house at 11 a.m., just as she was exiting her front door, clutching her gray and white designer purse.

He slammed her back into the house and into a chair, yanking away her purse in the process, police said. Then he darted across 14th Street -- pursued by Suarez, who was sporting Coach sneakers.

Just then, Perez was driving by in his cruiser, looking for the man whose break-in was thwarted by the scream. He saw Suarez pursuing the much-younger man. The man jumped into a car he had apparently parked outside the St. Peter and Paul Church.

Perez turned his cruiser around and gave chase. At Southwest 11th Avenue and 12th Street, the man tossed a purse out the car window. A block later, Perez caught him.

After backup officers arrived, Perez retrieved the purse, which contained $300. When Perez returned to Suarez's house accompanied by two detectives, the crime victim greeted them warmly, inviting them to come in out of sun for a glass of ice water.

Perez explained that she would have to wait to get her purse back. It had to be photographed and fingerprinted.

But he gave her a $2 bill and said, ``here's something for good luck.''