When former police officer David Rodriguez caught an armed robber in the act, he knew he had to stop him -- despite being paralyzed.
When David Rodriguez stopped in at a Dallas Jack-in-the-Box for an afternoon snack last Monday, he noticed something a little fishy going on as soon as he pulled up to the cashier’s window.
The woman serving him had a frightened look on her face, and “She kept moving her eyes to the left. At that point I realized this is probably a robbery,” Rodriguez, a former police officer, told Good Morning, America.
Rather than speed away from the scene of the crime, Rodriguez decided to stop the criminal himself. When he saw the armed robber, later identified as Royal Robinson, run from the building, he called 911 and began to trail Robinson with his car.
When Robinson spotted him, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Rodriguez, running towards the former cop’s truck. Rodriguez pulled into reverse to block the robber’s path and escape from harm’s way. When the police arrived, they discovered Robinson hiding behind a trash can in an adjacent lot, and swiftly arrested him.
Taking on an armed criminal is a brave act for any man –but for Rodriguez, who was paralyzed during a shoot-off with drug dealers 14 years ago, it was the height of heroism.
The Dallas police were astonished by his courage, given his circumstances: “All he has got is a cell phone, doesn’t have the use of his legs, yet he is pursuing an armed suspect—something that I couldn’t imagine doing without the ability to use my legs to retreat to seek cover,” said police officer Kevin Janse.
No word on Jack-in-the-Box’s reaction to Rodriguez’s good deed, but we’re hoping they’ll hook him up with free burgers for life, at the very least.