Many editions of What Would You Do? involve a question of whether or not you should butt into other folks' bidness, and this one is no different. Recently, ex-DC mayor Anthony Williams singlehandedly thwarted a downtown theft. This wouldn't otherwise be notable if Williams didn't act and sound like a grownup Steve Urkel. But anyways...
Tony Williams was on K Street yesterday afternoon when a thief grabbed a package from a UPS hand truck. The deliveryman, standing a few yards away, looked up and yelled, "Hey!" but the man kept walking.Again, unless you lived in/near DC during The Post-Barry Years, the unintentional comedy of Anthony Williams chasing down a crook is probably going to miss you. Here's ole' Tony in action for context.
Enter the former mayor, who asked the delivery guy if he was being robbed. "I said to myself, 'Do I just stand here? No, this can't happen,' " Williams told us. "And I just started running."
The ex-mayor, 57, was "extremely decisive," said eyewitness Lisa Gough, director of communications for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Gough was walking back to the office when she witnessed the theft and saw Williams spring into action. "While the rest of us were standing around trying to figure out what was going on, he acted. He was definitely in hot pursuit."
Williams sprinted down K Street shouting, "Stop! Stop! You can't do that!" With the deliveryman right behind him, he caught up to the culprit -- who looked at the bow tie and stopped dead in his tracks.
"You used to be the mayor," said the surprised thief, who simply handed over the box of computer parts.
The man walked away; Williams said he started after him while looking for a police car but decided not to restrain him. The man slipped into the crowd as passersby asked Williams what had happened. "I'm just fighting crime in the city," he told them.
Man, that guy was just hilarious. I suppose having a straight Lamar Latrelle as your mayor beats having a crackhead in charge, but only by so much. Still, I have to ask...
Question: What would YOU do? Would you have chased down the guy who stole the UPS package or just said "eff it" and kept on your merry way?
Who Was That Bow-Tied Superhero? [WashPost]
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I probably would have let that guy go. The best thing in my opinion is to try and gain an appropriate description of the culprit and call the police.
Regardless of how grimey the ex Mayor may have been you have to commend the guy for doing the right thing at that moment. No matter what a 57 year old man running down a street thief is fairly remarkable.
Wow....um personally I probably wouldn't have processed what was going on until after the fact. By then I probably wouldn't do anything because the man would be long gone or the driver would be after him.
My question is, who was watching the truck while the ex-mayor and driver ran the guy down? I think I would have watched the truck for them. Oh yeah and call the police.
Hi AveBro,
I would have turned to the UPS guy and said "you better go get your package", then I would have watched to see if he actually did go after it.
I would have gone after the guy.
That is awesome.
I also would have taken too long to realize what had just happened to give chase, so it wouldn't matter. I'da been like, "wait...what the...did he just...maybe...no...OMG he totally just STOLE that package, didn't he? I think." Meanwhile Thiefy McStealy would be long gone.
But then again, I also don't have a special immediately recognizable marker of my identity, like a superhero bowtie.
--miss kate
ex-post-Barry DC urrea resident
I would have called the police. I am very careful about my personal safety in light of an unfortunate incident that happened to me.
I suppose the answer lies in how responsible you feel in doing your part to make society a better place, and in the possible consequences you're willing to accept if you choose to intervene.
For me, there would have been no question: I'd have chased the guy (full disclosure: I might not have caught him, though - I'm no longer in the prime fitness of my 20's). I've done so before. I realize, however, that there are others for whom the decision to not become involved would be as much a no-brainer, and I respect their right to see things that way. I just wonder how people who think that "not getting involved", as a personal policy, can expect or hope anyone will assist them in a similar time of need. Be your brother's keeper if you ever want him to be yours.
I would have let the guy go and summoned a cop too. Anyone brazen enough to steal a package off a truck in broad daylight in a busy downtown clearly is off their marbles.
Besides, the box was nothing but a bunch of PC parts.
:) hey... those parts could've been the replacement GBICs I desperately needed to bring up my core switch environment after some disaster... little PC parts things can be very important sometimes. :)
I would have done the same thing as Monie....except I would have called the cops. I'm pretty sure that had not someone else taken off after the thief, the UPS guy would have chalked that package up as a loss.
Pretty much. They'll write it off and the person waiting on the package would have called the company and they would have replaced it. Unless the thief would have been waiting to take another package from them.
DC is my hometown. Picturing Williams doing that is hilarious. Glad he didn't get shot.
I would have taken note of the guy's description for the police later, but would I have chased him down myself? Hell to the naw. I'm not potentially getting MY behind kicked, shot or worse--I have family & loved ones to think about.
I know it sounds nice to say something like, "Oh, I would have stopped him!"--but the fact is, we don't know who's packing what...that's what the police get paid & trained for, it's best to take a good description or license plate # (if applicable) and let them handle it.
Not knowing how to fight (never having had a reason to start fisticuffs), it would have been foolish for me to chase him. He could be packing, and I don't know how to knock him senseless before he can whip it out.
I would have called the cops, and walked off wondering--not for the first time--if I should learn martial arts.
It's not a matter of probably, I would have let that mess go. Let the UPS driver chase the stolen package down. Heck, let them pay to replace whatever was in the box to begin with.
If it was a purse belonging to an old lady or a Mother, my answer could be different.
I think its cute that he went after it though. Now imagine ladies, if you had a man like that defending your honor.
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