LONGVIEW, Wash. -- A woman in a wheelchair fought off a would-be purse snatcher and stopped him from stealing her valuables.

Luva Rhodes said she was sitting in her wheelchair outside her residential care facility when the man walked out from a corner and immediately tried to grab her purse, reported television station KPTV in Portland, Ore.

Rhodes, who has congestive heart failure, said she had the purse's handle wrapped around her chair and she said the man was unable to yank the purse free.

She said she yelled at the man and swore at him before charging at him with her electric chair.

"(I) rammed him with my wheelchair a couple of times and he took off running," Rhodes said.

After she hit the man twice, he backed away and ran off, Rhodes said.

"It's pretty sick to do it to anybody, but to a person like me?" Rhodes said. "He just thought it he could overpower me, but nope. I wasn't going to let him."

Rhodes said the man was 18 or 19 years old and had a dirty appearance.

She said she may switch to a fanny pack to protect her valuables.