Posted on 02/02/2006 2:10:50 PM PST by bad company
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Posted on Thu, Feb. 02, 2006
Patron, 17, who “thought it was his duty” beats, subdues man Store robber runs into one tough customer
By CHRISTINE VENDEL The Kansas City Star
“Open the register before someone gets hurt!” shouted the robber, who at the time probably wasn’t including himself in the list of possible someones.
But it was the robber who got clobbered Tuesday night at a Kansas City discount store.
A teenage customer who “thought it was his duty” attacked the thief, disarmed him and beat him when he refused to surrender.
The 6-foot-1-inch boy said he was not afraid of the 5-foot-5-inch robber, whom the boy outweighed by 95 pounds.
“Not at all,” Tyler Williams, 17, said Wednesday as he recounted the incident, which also was detailed in a police report.
He had driven to a Dollar General Store at 7009 Bannister Road, about 1½ miles from his house, to buy candy for a cousin. It was 7:40 p.m. He left his mother, Darinda Williams, in the car.
Williams selected a bouquet of Charms Blow Pops and walked to the counter. He noticed a hooded man with his hand in his pocket. The man announced a robbery. Williams tried to leave.
“If you go out, they get shot,” the robber said, referring to two cashiers and two customers, all women.
A cashier provided money from one register, but a second register was empty. The robber ordered everyone to the store’s rear so he could steal from the safe. When the robber entered a back room with one cashier, Williams told the customers and the other cashier to leave.
When the robber reappeared, Williams punched him in the face, then threw more punches. The robber smacked him in the head with a tire iron.
“My adrenaline was running so high, I didn’t feel it at the moment,” Williams said.
He wrestled the robber to the floor, pressed his knee into his abdomen and ripped free the tire iron. The robber kept fighting, so Williams hit him with the tire iron. The robber clawed at Williams, bit his hand, grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him to the floor.
“I tried to choke him out a little bit so he would slow down,” Williams said.
Meanwhile, Williams’ mother, who saw the robbery’s beginnings from the car, drove to a nearby drugstore and asked someone to call 911. Having seen the robber escort everyone toward the rear, she feared what was happening.
“I was terrified,” she said. “I didn’t know if he had a gun.”
Officers found Williams holding a tire iron and standing over a bloody man on the floor. When the officers mistakenly handcuffed Williams, the injured man jumped up and ran. Officers chased him two blocks and arrested him.
The 48-year-old man needed eight staples to close head wounds.
The officers apologized to Williams, who also went to a hospital, where doctors checked a bump on his head, scratch marks to his chest, and bite marks to his right hand. They treated him with antibiotics.
Williams, who, his parents said, earns As and Bs as a high school junior, did not regret getting involved.
“Yes, I would do it again,” he said. “I’m the type of person who’s going to stick up for anybody.”
His mother, however, does not want a repeat performance.
“It’s too dangerous,” she said. But she added, “I’m proud of Tyler, and I’m glad he’s OK.”
Jackson County prosecutors charged Robert G. Shinault of Kansas City with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of armed criminal action Wednesday for the Bannister Road holdup and one earlier Tuesday at another Dollar General.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To reach Christine Vendel, call (816) 234-4438 or send e-mail to cvendel@kcstar.com.
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© 2006 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com
Cool
Atta boy!
A round of applause to mom for raising such a great young man and to Tyler for doing the honorable thing.....just glad he didn't get hurt and I hope he never is put in that position again
A brave young man and a fine American.
I hope the cops gave him a job application.
"I hope the cops gave him a job application."
Agreed, he would also do well in the USMC
This guy is an idiot! The "robber" he beat to a pulp was Jack Bauer. Now the terrorists have gotten away!
the Chief of Police probably gave the standard lecture about how you should comply and surrender
Two blocks? The LEO were way too focused on the big kid.
My kind of guy.
Good work, Tyler! Words are not sufficient to express the praise and honor due to you!
Good job Tyler
Ah, to be 17 again...
If you were a robber, could you imagine having any luck using this line against your typical gangbanger? It'd never work, not in a million years. And against the average 17-year-old kid, it'd probably fail at least, what, I don't know, 20% of the time? This kid must stick out like a sore thumb. He must have 'GOOD KID' written all over him, lol.
Or got conflicting info from dispatchers. It happens a lot during hot in-progress calls. Better to just cuff up everyone when in doubt and dust off the good guys with an apology
LOL!!!!
Charms Blow Pops are a Toosie Roll product. This story is on the way to them. Maybe they'll send the kid a pallet of the stuff.
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