A good Samaritan stopped a would-be robbery at a Sacramento area Wendy’s on Christmas Day, hitting the knife-wielding suspect over the head with a chair, according to KTLA sister station KTXL in Sacramento.
The chain of events began when a would-be bandit walked into the Wendy’s restaurant in Yuba City at 5:30 p.m., wearing a bag over his head.
“So I kept an eye on him,” said the good Samaritan, who wishes to be identified only as Daniel.
He then noticed the man had a knife, which he soon brandished at the cashier to demand money. “And then about two seconds later, he turns to somebody on his left and says, ‘She’ll take care of you in a minute,'” Daniel recounted. “And that’s when I brought the chair down on his head.”
In a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, Daniel told KTXL that several thoughts rushed through his head before he took action against the masked man.
“My first thought was, ‘What’s this guy gonna do?'” he said. “And when I saw the knife I thought, ‘Look at all these people in here. I don’t want this to turn into somebody’s Christmas memorial.’ And yeah, it was about that time, I took a couple steps with that big chair in my hand and brought it down on his head.”
The suspect ran out of the restaurant into an awaiting getaway car, described as a white 1990s to 2000s sedan, possibly a Honda.
“If anybody out there knows a friend who got a gash on the head last night, that was probably the culprit,” Daniel said.
While police generally don’t encourage bystanders to intervene in robberies, Daniel said he does have special training as a security policeman in the Air Force that came into play.
Restaurant employees were grateful for his swift action.
“That’s a very traumatic experience and he helped us instead of standing back and watching it,” cashier Erika Farris said.
But Daniel felt it was simply the right thing to do. “I’d like to think that anybody would do something like that,” he said.
Anyone with information about the robbery attempt can contact the Yuba City Police Department at 530-822-4660.