HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A brave Hollywood store clerk managed to hold off a would-be thief until police arrived — even after being attacked and pepper-sprayed.
Surveillance cameras captured a man inside the Kwik Stop along Johnson Street and North 64th Avenue, Thursday.
The subject was seen wearing a towel around his neck, sunglasses and a hat.
He waited for customers to clear the store before making his move.
“He come and he said, ‘Give me the money,’ said clerk Mohsin Sarker. “I look and he sprayed.”
The would-be robber unleashed pepper spray in the 60-year-old’s face.
What the subject was probably not expecting is that Sarker was not going down without a fight.
“He said, ‘I’m not gonna let him take my money from me, no matter what,'” said Aktar Hossain, Sarker’s his son-in-law.
The video showed Sarker and the robber brawling near the store’s entrance.
At one point, Sarker is seen putting the man in a headlock.
During the struggle, the would-be thief lost his sunglasses and dropped the pepper spray.
Asked whether the man was strong, Sarker responded, “no.”
After several minutes, customer Hugo Perez walked into the store. He said he saw the two men fighting.
“I saw his eyes red,” Perez said through a translator. “He looked hurt. I saw tears and he was asking for help.”
He helped hold the man down while another customer called 911.
“If they were not helping, we could not hold that guy,” Hossain said.
Eventually the man gave up and sat on a chair as he waited for police to arrive.
When an officer showed up, he was quick to put his hands behind his back to be arrested.
Despite a cut on his arm and a bruise on the clerk’s neck, he returned to work and business continued as usual.
His friends and family learned that he’s a guy not to be messed with.
“I never think he’s gonna be able to do that,” Hossain said.
The subject’s identity has not been released.
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