Santa Fe police are looking for two men who tried mugging the wife of Sheriff Greg Solano on Wednesday.

At 5 p.m., Antoinette Solano had just left a gas station near Airport and South Meadows roads when a white minivan pulled up behind her.

"They got real close to her car, so she pulled over to let them pass. When she pulled over, so did they," Solano said, and a man in his early 20s got out of the van and walked up to the passenger side of the car.

When Antoinette Solano rolled down her window to see what the man wanted, he lunged inside the car and grabbed Antoinette Solano's purse.

The would-be robber wasn't fast enough.

Antoinette Solano also grabbed her purse with one arm and fought off her attacker with the other. The man had a small, souvenir-style baseball bat in one hand, the sheriff said.

The man ran back to the van, Greg Solano said, got in the passenger side, and the vehicle sped away north on South Meadows Road.

"She called 911 first, then me and just said, 'They tried to get my purse,' " Greg Solano said. "I was literally two blocks away and got right over there. The (city) police response was great, too. There was already an officer there when I got there."

Antoinette Solano suffered some bruising and a sprain of her right shoulder. The case is being handled by the city police.

"We always tell people it's better to just let the purse go," Greg Solano said. "What's in the purse can be replaced, but it's just a natural reaction to fight to keep it."