Her purse was in the car, so she spent the next hour canceling her credit cards - although not before the thieves had made several purchases.

The car was recovered Sunday, after a high-speed chase stemming from a drug sting by West Valley City police. The chase ended in downtown Salt Lake City, where the car was abandoned by the suspects who fled on foot.

Here's where the heroics come in.

West Valley police officer Blair Barfuss was in a position at one point to ram the car's tail and send it into a spin to stop the chase. He resisted the maneuver because he knew it was a stolen car, belonging to someone, and it had blown a tire, so it could easily have rolled from the impact. There also were too many innocent people around who could have been hurt.

One last cruel twist: While Barfuss' decision saved Harman's car from severe damage, police suspect it was subjected to methamphetamine exposure and could be totaled anyway because the entire interior would have to be gutted.

Speaking of heroics: Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank spoke during a luncheon Tuesday at the local chapter of Footprinters International and, while taking nothing away from the bravery of the police officers who ended the carnage at Trolley Square, gave high praise to the many store owners who hid their customers in closets and other secure places while the owners themselves remained in harm's way.

Burbank - whose officers, along with Ogden officer Kenneth Hammond will be honored next month by the Footprinters, a law-enforcement support club - said that while police responded to the shootings three minutes after the first dispatch, they still wonder what they might have been able to do had they gotten there sooner.

Burbank also had praise for the neighbors of 5-year-old Destiny Norton, who nearly rioted last year after learning the missing girl had been murdered. Burbank excused the behavior, noting the neighbors' own emotional investment in trying to find the girl for several days.

Burbank, by the way, is a former professional squash player who comes from a family of theater people and ballet dancers.

Who was that masked man? When a driver suspected of being drunk was arrested by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper last year, he began berating the trooper, claiming he had friends in high places and the trooper's job would be toast after he told his influential buddies how badly he was treated.

He was unaware that sitting right behind him in the trooper's car was Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., wearing a baseball cap. Huntsman, who didn't know the man, likes to go on ride-alongs with the troopers. He related that story last week at the Utah Police Chiefs Association's annual dinner.

prolly@sltrib.com