This happened on October 8, 2009.
My colleague commented that I was the odd one out; the lunch group wore either black, white or gray.
I was in red.
A seemingly normal lunch at The Cathay on Thursday became an eventful one, with my Creative Director spotting what appeared to be a perverted man, trying to steal glances at a lady tending to a pushcart store from the second floor. While my colleagues bought their usual dosage of coffee, the rest of us continued scrutinizing his actions, moments later, the lady scurried off to the restroom and he disappeared, to our dismay.
He was once again in our line of sight, this time behaving furtively at the pushcart store. Realizing that he was eying the drawers rather than the lady, we began our pincer movement in a bid to catch him, when my Creative Director shouted and startled him, he made a dash for the nearest exit, which was where two security guards walked in timely and grabbed a plastic bag he carried, unfortunately the other guard did not manage to grab him.
I gave chase around the building to the main entrance, where I caught and pulled him by his printed shirt, in his desperate attempt to escape, he took out what appeared to be a pen and shoved it at me a few times before I relented.
When my colleagues finally caught up with me, they were shocked when I showed them the cuts suffered on my arms, but unbeknownst to them, was a throbbing pain I felt on the left side of my chest after the adrenaline from the chase wore out, when I got back to the office.
I checked out the sharpening pain in the toilet, where a wound that would camouflage itself well under the red t-shirt I wore, perturbed me. Turns out, in the thief's desperate bid to escape, he skillfully aimed straight for my heart:
As uploaded on Facebook on the day of the incident, after I got home.
"Wouldn't dare imagine how it'd be if it was a knife" was the picture caption, and I am indeed fortunate that it wasn't, until a week later, the Suits intern came in with The New Paper reporting the capture of a snatch thief.
The photos matched the description of the thief I tried to catch, so I went on to read about the courageous act of the good citizen who managed to subdue him:
"A PUBLIC-SPIRITED passer-by foiled an attempted theft at China Square Central on Thursday when he rushed to the aid of the victim who cried out for help
The 40-year-old woman was preparing to open her push-cart stall for business at about 11.15am when she was alerted by a staff from a neighbouring push-cart that a man had stolen her handbag.
When the victim turned around, she caught sight of a man running away. She immediately shouted: 'Robbery!' and asked passers-by to stop the man. Her cries attracted the attention of 25-year-old Romeo Alfen Bin Abdul Wahid who works as a manager at a nearby cafe.
Mr Romeo chased the suspect and caught him. As he was trying to subdue the thief, the suspect took out a screwdriver and stabbed Mr Romeo's stomach but missed. A scuffle ensued but Mr Romeo managed to pin the suspect onto the floor with the help of other passers-by.
Mr Romeo, who is also a police national serviceman, suffered a superficial scratch on his neck. Police arrived shortly afterwards and arrested the 52-year-old suspect. The victim's handbag was recovered with its contents intact."
This was quoted off The Straits Times website on October 15, 2009. Pretty much sums up what The New Paper reported, but what scared me after reading the report, was the fact that he stabbed me with, not a pen, but a screwdriver.
I still get goosebumps thinking about that.
Anyways, yes, kudos to Mr. Romeo for his heroic act of saving a damsel in distress, even though I was almost a hero, justice prevailing is what really matters at the end of the day.
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