Two good samaritans, acidentally help robber

[SkullKing]

Things are not always what it seems two guys saw one person attacking another, and tried to hold the attacker.

Turns out the "victim" is actually a robber who thanks to their help managed to flee.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/artic...nclick_check=1

[TheHuckster]

The article you're linking me to is requiring me to subscribe before I read the article.

I used to have recurring nightmares of this very situation, where either:

a.) I am being robbed, and in my effort to subdue the robber, I'm falsely arrested.

or

b.) I see and diffuse an apparent robbery/fight situation where the "victim" turns out to be the robber or whoever, and I have deep regret.

I'm sure stuff like this happens more often than is reported, although hopefully they actually find the guy and arrest him. On the plus side, though, from your brief synopsis it sounds like nobody got hurt.

[Andara Bledin]

Whoops.

This actually highlights several things.

First, if you're going to intervene, then treat all involved as potential suspects regardless of age, race, gender, etc.

Second, if you're going to intervene, then stick around long enough to be interviewed by the cops. Don't force them to hunt you down so they can conduct an interview that they should have been able to do at the scene.

Third, if you're part of the incident, communicating with those who intervene is important to prevent them from making bad assumptions.

However, it's worth noting that while the Samaritans restrained the man they thought was the attacker, they did not harm him, which is something.

Regardless, they have a clear video image of the thief, so it's likely she'll be nabbed. The guy, on the other hand, is probably out the cash and necklace.

^-.-^