Ellicott City/elkridge

Woman's purse stolen outside supermarket

An unidentified man snatched a woman's purse containing $33 as she loaded groceries into her car Sunday outside an Ellicott City supermarket, Howard County police said.

The 35-year-old woman was uninjured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m. at the Normandy Shopping Center in the 8500 block of Normandy Center Drive, police said.

As the woman loaded groceries into her vehicle, a pickup truck pulled up next to her and its male driver asked for directions, police said.

Before she could answer, the man got out of the truck, yanked the woman's purse from her shoulder and fled east in his truck on Baltimore National Pike, police said.

The man was described as a clean-shaven white male between 30 and 35 years old, with a thin build and short, curly blond hair. He was driving a dark blue older model pickup truck with a white stripe on the side, police said.

POLICE LOG

* Ellicott City: 10100 block of Green Clover Drive: Someone drove a vehicle into a mailbox between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday.