A loyal customer and two employees didn’t go without a fight when two thieves stole a cash drawer from a 24-hour restaurant in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Security camera video captured the chaotic series of events at Lucy’s Drive In Mexican restaurant on La Brea Avenue around midnight Tuesday.
A camera outside the business showed a frequent customer, who asked to be identified only as Fernando, entering the restaurant just before two men.
The thieves broke into at least ten restaurants in Glendale and moved very quickly, robbing one location after another throughout the day.
A camera inside the restaurant showed Fernando seated at a table. Just as he was rolling up his shirt sleeves to get into his food, one of the men jumped out of a narrow window in the counter and grabbed the restaurant cash register.
Fernando didn’t hesitate when the man jumped out the window and onto the counter.
“It’s my nature, I always do that,” he said. “My father was a policeman, so I have a good education.”
Fernando grabbed the man by his hoodie. Two employees also intervened, but one of the robbers punched Fernando in the stomach and face, knocking him to the ground.
It was only later that Fernando learned that at least one of the men had a gun. An employee chased the robbers out of the store, but quickly returned to find they were armed.
“He came back and said, ‘They have a gun, they have a gun,'” Fernando said.
Within minutes, the suspects rammed a vehicle in front of the business and stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry before police arrived.
The thieves got away with the piggy bank.
“We are grateful to have customers like this who are willing to fight for us,” an employee told sister station NBCLA.
Fernando suffered an elbow injury and a swollen lip.
Authorities have announced the arrest of a suspect in dozens of robberies in the Riverside area known as the “snake”.
Lucy’s has been open 24 hours a day in the Mid-Wilshire area since 1969. Employees said it was the first robbery they remember at the restaurant.
No arrests were reported early Wednesday morning.
This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station NBCLA. Click here to read this story in English.