Woman beaten, knocked down by Lancaster purse snatcher

A man is in custody for assaulting a woman in a parking lot in Lancaster, S.C., on Thursday night and taking her purse.

Arkevus Cauthen, 28, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of strong arm battery. He is being held in the Lancaster County Detention Center without bond, according to WBTV, the Observer’s news partner.

The victim has not been named but was not seriously injured. She was loading groceries into her car around 11 p.m. at a Walmart store on Highway 9 Bypass West when a man approached her and tried to take her purse.

When she tried to fight back, the man hit her in the face and head multiple times and knocked her to the ground.

Lancaster Police are working to determine whether two other purse snatching cases might be related. One of those incidents occurred about a week earlier at Springs Memorial Hospital. The other was at an Aldi supermarket.

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Woman beaten, knocked down by Lancaster purse snatcher."