"He came in and put a couple of coins in, and probably just as fast as he put the coins in, he goes just like that and off he goes,” Dyekman said.
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The thief didn’t get too far with the donations, though, thanks to a quick-thinking couple.
"They saw him take the kettle, so they were Good Samaritans and they actually went after him,” Dyekman said.
Mike Murtland and his wife were driving through the Shop 'n Save parking lot Monday night when they saw a man running from the grocery store with the red kettle.
"Not too many people would have gotten involved like that. They would have seen a guy with a kettle and said, ‘I'm not going to chase the guy because I don't know if he has a gun, a knife or whatever,’” Dyekman said.
Donna Fencik, with the Salvation Army, agreed that the couple’s actions were inspiring.
"This is a tough time of year because you hear heart breaking stories, but then you turn around and hear heart-warming stories like this and someone is willing to stick their neck out for someone else,” she said. "Thank the Lord we got the kettle back. So no harm, nobody got hurt."
The Latrobe Police Department did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on an investigation into the incident.
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