The kind of criminal who tries to rob the elderly is always the kind who deserves viral infamy.
This is why we turn your attention to a Sainsbury’s store in the city of Cardiff, Wales.
Many of our American readers won’t be familiar with Sainsbury’s. It’s one of the U.K.’s biggest supermarket chains; think Shop-Rite but with the ingredients with which Britons ruin food. In my limited experience in Albion, however, I can tell you they have excellent readymade pork pies and Scotch eggs.
They also, like any good supermarket, have an ATM. It’s a part of any modern supermarket. It’s convenient. It’s one-stop shopping.
It’s also, unfortunately, a target for criminals.
On the evening of Feb. 5, one of those criminals decided to strike at the Sainsbury’s.
According to South Wales Police, the younger man approached a 77-year-old and demanded his bank card and money. There’s video of it, which doesn’t have audio.
Here’s a spoiler alert for you: What I wouldn’t have given for a bit of audio here. My guess is that it didn’t involve the septuagenarian saying, “OK! Whatever you want, sir.”
The footage begins in an anodyne enough fashion as the man walks to the ATM. As he walks away, a man with a black jacket and a fluorescent vest comes up and pushes him.
Surveillance footage shows 77-year-old fight off masked man who tried to steal his cash as he walked away from an ATM.
Police in Wales say the suspect fled the scene empty-handed. https://t.co/QddZfGQa4L pic.twitter.com/v1CNJR0nQG
— ABC News (@ABC) February 18, 2020
This seems easy enough for a ruffian, right? The two begin grappling and it’s clear the younger man doesn’t have the advantage.
As boxing fans know, however, you can only do so much clenching.
The actual boxing match begins and, quite frankly, the younger man doesn’t have the advantage there, either.
Our 77-year-old hero can stick and move with the best of them — and, at one point, even taunts the wannabe mugger by urging him to come closer so some proper fisticuffs can be had.
Thankfully for all parties involved, however, the hoodlum decides it’s time to go Roberto Durán and say “no más,” leaving empty-handed.
According to Fox News, South Wales Police lauded the 77-year-old — identified in a tweet only as as “Trevor” — saying he had “bravely fought off the suspect.”
If anyone deserves an award, it's 77-year-old Trevor for his bravery 🙌#Brits2020
If you have any info, contact us on 1⃣0⃣1⃣ quoting *043939.
— South Wales Police (@swpolice) February 18, 2020
Police also reported Trevor “was shocked & very shaky after the incident, but thankful nothing worse had happened.”