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Poor timing.
A retired fighter foiled an armed robbery on the streets of Hollywood, using his skills on the brazen thug before he could get off with an expensive Rolex.
The former fighter, who asked to remain anonymous, was walking the streets of West Hollywood with his girlfriend when a masked man dressed in all black jumped out of a sedan just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, according to NBC4 Los Angeles.
The would-be thief demanded the professional grappler to hand over his luxury watch, but instead was handed a beating.
“I was able to disarm and take the gun from him,” the man told the outlet. “I had him pinned down.”
A nearby resident heard the commotion on the street and ran to help the man.
The powerless thief struggled on the sidewalk as the unidentified fighter held him down, according to footage obtained by the outlet.
“He was trying to get up. No way, we’re not letting him go,” the fighter said.
The fighter’s girlfriend, who also remained anonymous, wrestled the loaded handgun out of the masked bandit’s hand, tossing it away from the one-sided fight.
“I’m the one who ran, grabbed (the gun) and threw it over the apartment fence,” she said.
A utilities worker, working at the house next door, raced over to help the fighter, pinning down the alleged robber’s legs.
Neighbors called 911 as the suspected criminal lay defeated underneath the full body weight of the ex-professional athlete.
The fighter “showed no mercy” to the gunman, keeping him pinned to the ground, not caring for the criminal’s well-being until police arrived.
“At one point, the guy’s arm got dislocated, and he just held him down,” resident Patrick McCloskey told KTLA.
McCloskey had been working from home when he heard the commotion in his front yard.
“The chaos was so intense, I didn’t know who jumped who,” McCloskey said. “I ran to the door to see what was happening. At that point, I hear her yell, ‘Get the gun, get the gun!’
“But he didn’t know that the guy was a retired wrestler,” McCloskey added. “So, he was able to get the gun off the guy and wrestle him down.”
The unidentified suspect was arrested by West Hollywood police.
Officials said a second person had jumped out of the black sedan, but quickly returned to the vehicle and sped off when the gunman was stopped from getting the watch.
In September, an 87-year-old man fought off a pair of thieves who tried to rip off his $48,000 Rolex outside a Gramercy Park senior center.
Larry Schwartz, 87, and Joanna Cuccia, 89, were approaching the Stein Senior Center on East 23rd Street near Third Avenue — a short distance from their apartment — around 11 a.m. Wednesday when the male suspect held the door open and asked Cuccia for directions to a Walmart, he said.
“I said, ‘There are no Walmarts in New York City,’ and then he said, ‘Oh, tell my wife, tell my wife,’” Cuccia said.
