In the confusion of the three-car accident, the man suspected of stealing a victim’s purse actually has been called a hero who helped a woman in need.

“In a nutshell, the theft didn’t happen,” said La-Grange police Lt. Del Armstrong. “One of the guys that stopped to help her … gave it to her husband.”

Patricia Harris, 58, of Lanett, Ala., was driving a Chevrolet HHR that was thrown off the road into a swampy area after being struck in the side Tuesday at Lafayette Parkway and Hoffman Drive. Police said a Toyota Camry driven by Jessica Meeks, 17, of Patillo Road turned into a Ford Taurus driven by Evon Alma, 53, of Greenville, which crashed into Harris.

A white truck pulled up to the scene and an unidentified man helped Harris until police arrived. Harris gave him her bag, telling the man to contact her husband and give police her ID.

Harris was airlifted to Columbus Regional Medical Center, but the purse, contents and the man were nowhere to be found.

The incident was treated as a theft because officers couldn’t find the man. They checked white trucks parked at Waffle House, Cracker Barrel and the Baymont Inn in an attempt to find him.

The purse had been delivered to Harris’ husband.

“The gentleman, hero, who stopped by to assist my sister did everything right,” Joey Milford, Harris’ brother, said in an e-mail. “He stayed with my sister until help arrived, called her husband to alert him, held onto my sister’s pocketbook and money bag until her husband arrived, and gave them over to him.”