Online: | |
Visits: | |
Stories: |
Story Views | |
Now: | |
Last Hour: | |
Last 24 Hours: | |
Total: |
A would-be mugger of a New York City tourist now faces criminal charges thanks to the quick action of some Good Samaritans.
Jamie Cowgur, 36, from Phoenix, Arizona, was visiting the Big Apple with her two children on Wednesday when Theodore Shearin, 37, reached into her back pocket. Cowgur immediately swung around and confronted him saying, “What are you doing?”
Shearin then grabbed the woman’s backpack, which contained her wallet. Cowgur refused to let go as he knocked her onto the pavement and dragged her down a Midtown Manhattan block. “I did not let go because my instinct was how am I going to get home without what’s in it,” Cowgur told DNAinfo afterwards.
Contents of the backpack spilled onto the street, including Cowgur’s wallet. Shearin picked it up and took out the money.
Some bystanders seeing the mugging unfold before their eyes sprung into action and tackled the 6’ 1” assailant.
The video shows them holding Shearin down and demanding he give back the woman’s money.
“Give me my money!” the blond-haired Cowgur says at one point.
The Good Samaritans ripped the money from the mugger’s hand and gave it back to her.
One man is heard saying, ‘Somebody get a cop.’
“Do you want to press charges?” another asks her.
“Yes, he’s an a******,” Cowgur, who suffered a bloodied lip and scraped knee during the assault, replies.
Bryant Jackson, president of COED media, who took a video of the aftermath of the robbery, recounted:
While leaving work today, I had the great fortune of witnessing firsthand why New Yorkers are so f*cking awesome. A woman was being mugged in broad daylight on 35th street in Midtown Manhattan, and without a second thought, 10 to 12 citizens tackled this huge thug and took him to the ground. Just as many came to the aid of the victim and helped gather her belonging[s] that were spread all across street in rush hour traffic. It wasn’t a black thing or a white thing, it was just good people doing the right thing. Way to go New York!
The assailant later managed to break away and start running down the street; however, two Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers chased him down and arrested him.
Shearin, from Staten Island, has a criminal record. For the Wednesday attack, he has been changed with robbery, criminal possession of stolen property, and possession of PCP.
“So many people came to my aid,” Cowgur said. “Civilians who I don’t know, police officers, men and women who came over asking if I was all right.
“It was pretty amazing,” she added. “People were so warm. I still love New York. It’s a great place.“
h/t: IJReview
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth