Small but terrible, Shelly Hambleton stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds.
She's not faster than a speeding bullet nor more powerful than a locomotive, can't leap tall buildings in a single bound.But singlehandedly, armed with nothing but a surge of adrenaline, Hambleton did manage to stop a carload of small-time criminals in its tracks.
The city recognized her in a proclamation earlier this month lauding her courage in helping police apprehend a teenager who stole a shirt and a pair of shoes from Surplus Savers, 7150 S. State.
Hambleton, 29, did it by standing in the path of a vehicle carrying the young thief and four accomplices.
"I was mad," said Hambleton, a customer-service representative for a local film-distribution company who was shopping at the store July 15 when the teen bolted without paying for his goods. "I thought, well, somebody's got to do something."
As the woman behind the cash register burst into tears and the store manager worked in a back room oblivious to the drama, Hambleton ran outside and jumped into her car in hot pursuit of the bandit, who had climbed into a getaway vehicle that carried four other young people.
She pulled up behind the car when it stopped for traffic as it tried to escape via State Street, and walked around to the front of the vehicle, where she stood her ground.
"I pointed at them and said, `You're not going anywhere, buddy,' " said Hambleton. "I didn't feel jeopardized at any time because the girl driving was scared to death."
Hambleton flagged down a jogger who reluctantly helped by going back into the store to see if the police were on the way.
And then she demanded - and received - proper identification from everybody in the car. The police later tracked down all five, and the juvenile who stole the goods was prosecuted.
Hambleton's fiance, Rick Burn-ham, wasn't surprised when he heard the story.
"She's kind of that way," he said.
The store manager, Brett Roberts, was grateful enough to give her a $50 Surplus Savers gift certificate.
"Very few people show that much character," he said.
And the town's police chief, Gerald Maughn, wrote Hambleton a letter praising her bravery, though he added a note of caution: "I would hesitate to encourage citizens to become involved to the same extent you did in this case."
"I'd encourage people to get a description and the license plate number," he said later. "Those situations can be a little bit dangerous."