Robber tried to snatch cash from 74-year-old, cops say. She squeezed his ‘weak spot’
The 74-year-old Midfield, Ala., woman was startled when a stranger grabbed her in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot Wednesday morning, WIAT reported.
But Brenda Stinson didn’t go down without a fight. Instead, she fought the would-be robber off just how she’d planned — by grabbing his “weak spot,” she told AL.com.
“I grabbed him between his legs. I grabbed him good between his legs,’‘ she told the website. “I know he’s going to be sore.”
She told the site she thought the man had followed her inside to see where she carried her cash. He grabbed her in the parking lot to try to take it.
The woman told WVTM she fought with the man for several minutes.
“I broke two of my nails tussling with him,” she told the station. The woman said the man hit her in the head and face and tried to swipe cash from inside her car.
A witness told WIAT he witnessed part of the attack and was shocked.
“Tears where coming to my eyes when I was walking up to this. That could’ve been my mama or my grandma. That’s all I can say about that,” he told the station.
A group of bystanders eventually realized what was happening, pulled the man off the woman and held the man for the police,WBRC reported.
Photos of the aftermath of the attack circulated on Facebook, where they were shared more than 15,000 times.
“If you know this lady she was just beat and robbed at piggly wiggly in midfield please check on her we stopped him from taking off til the police got here respect our elders !!!!!!!!!” Kimberly Whitehead wrote.
The photos show a woman holding open the driver door and a man appearing to pull someone out of the vehicle while Stinson lies on the ground. Another photo shows a man pinning another man to the ground as Stinson sits nearby.
“We had to do what we had to do,’‘ Whitehead told AL.com
Police arrived and arrested the alleged attacker, who has been charged with attempted robbery and assault, according to WBRC.
Police praised the actions of the bystanders.
“We definitely need the community involvement to stop crimes like this from happening. If the criminals knew that the community wouldn’t put up with it, they wouldn’t even commit the crime,” Midfield police Sgt. Jesse Bell told WIAT.
Stinson got away from the scrape without any serious injuries and plans to thank the man who pinned her alleged attacker, who was identified by AL.com as William Daniels.
“I need to try to get in touch with him and let him know I appreciate him,” she told the site.