METHUEN — Rosa Martinez survived the bloody civil war in El Salvador and came to the United States 20 years ago.
Yesterday morning she was confronted by another kind of terror as she attempted to fight off an admitted drug addict trying to steal her purse containing her immigration papers and other valuables, police said.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Martinez, 59, left her clothes washing in a laundromat on Burnham Road and crossed the street to food shop at the Market Basket on Haverhill Street. It was there that Jennifer Murphy, 27, of Reading, attacked Martinez trying to grab her purse, police said.
Martinez did not give up her bag easily.
While Murphy tried to pull it off her shoulder, Martinez said she held on tighter. Martinez, a petite woman with jet black hair, was knocked to the ground at least three times, but she got right back on her feet.
"I don't know where I found the strength," Martinez said in Spanish last night. Other than bruises on her upper lip, her hand and her head, she said she was fine.
"I'm just a little shaken," Martinez said. "I was asking God to help me and all I could say to her was, 'Give me my documents.'"
Police said that before the attack on Martinez, Murphy had entered the 7-Eleven at 370 Broadway in Lawrence, about 8:15 a.m., where she tried to talk the store clerk into giving her $40 from the cash register.
According to the store clerk, Murphy told her, "I'm not threatening you or anything; woman to woman, I just got out of rehab and I need money to feed my child. You could just give me like $40, it's not like it's your money. When I leave you can call the police."
When the clerk told her she was calling the police and reached for the alarm button, Murphy fled the store and drove away in a car later determined to have been stolen, police said.
Shortly after 9 a.m., she drove into the Market Basket parking lot at 186 Haverhill St. When she got out of the car, she went after Martinez, police said.
Witnesses told police that Murphy eventually wrested the bag from Martinez and got in the car to drive away, but Martinez persisted even as Murphy was hitting her with a cell phone and trying to drive away.
Martinez banged up against the car several times and fell down as the car sped away, police said.
One witness, a 67-year-old woman who asked not to be identified, said she was pulling into the parking lot and saw the two women fighting right in front of her.
She said she felt bad for the older woman because the younger woman was beating her. "I didn't get out of my car to help her, I'm 67," she said.
But the woman said she kept reciting the license plate number to herself to write it down. She gave the license plate information to police.
Methuen police put out a broadcast to area departments with a description of the car, a Geo Prizm, which had been reported stolen in Woburn.
Knowing people who commit such crimes are frequently drug-dependent and head to a drug location to try to buy drugs, Lawrence police sent officers to the area of Lowell and Elizabeth streets, where Detective Sgt. Michael Simard found the car on Greenwood Street. He ordered Murphy out of the car at gunpoint and placed her in handcuffs.
Martinez's Coach bag containing her cell phone, $171 in cash, driver's license, credit cards, identification and personal papers, was found inside the car, along with Murphy's BlackBerry phone.
Lawrence police charged her with attempting to commit a crime in the incident at the 7-Eleven, receiving a stolen motor vehicle, receiving stolen property over $250, and driving after revocation of her license for being a habitual traffic offender.
Methuen police charged her with armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and larceny over $250.
Murphy violently resisted officers as they tried to place her in the prisoner transport van for the trip to Lawrence District Court. She shouted out she has AIDS.
Police said Murphy is a self-admitted drug addict who is addicted to crack cocaine and heroin.
During her arraignment yesterday afternoon in Lawrence District Court, Judge Michael Brooks ordered her held without bail until Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether she poses a danger to the community and should be locked up until her trial.
ÔÇæMartinez and her husband, Joel, are legal permanent residents. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Martinez was concerned about her immigration papers because she is flying to Atlanta to see her daughter who just had surgery.
The past few weeks have been difficult for the Martinezes. In addition to the assault and robbery and their daughter's surgery, they were laid off from their cleaning jobs.
