Ryan Carter
PASADENA -- Asmar Chabbo still remembers the Burger King cashier
crying. That's when he knew what he had to do: "I couldn't let the guy
get away."
Now, Chabbo, a 29-year-old Burbank resident, is a hero.
Chabbo was awarded Los Angeles County's Courageous Citizen award on
Wednesday during a ceremony at the Pasadena Hilton, sponsored by the
Rotary Club of Pasadena.
Chabbo received a certificate and a pin from Chief Deputy District
Atty. Curt Livesay for foiling an armed robbery at a Burger King in Los
Angeles.
"It feels great," said a humble Chabbo. "But if this award didn't
come, I'd still be happy.
"Thank God nobody was hurt."
But somebody could have been -- including him.
It was last May when Chabbo and his friend, Aboud Touma, were eating
lunch at a Burger King in Los Angeles when they heard a loud scream. They
saw a man in his 20s walk in, jump over the counter, approach the
cashier, pull out a handgun and demand money, said Dep. District Atty.
Larry Walls of the county's complaints division.
The cashier gave the man money from the register and the man jumped
back over the counter, yelling "Don't follow me!" Walls said.
"But Chabbo didn't heed that warning," Walls said.
After a short pursuit, Chabbo dragged the robber off the bicycle he
had hopped on, wrestled away the gun, -- which Touma retrieved -- and sat
on the man until police came.
The episode didn't end there.
The man started to complain that he couldn't breath, and when Chabbo
saw a scar on the man's chest, he eased up.
The ruse worked, at least momentarily.
The man got up and kept running, but Chabbo ran him down again, Walls
said.
The handgun turned out to be BB gun, but nobody knew that, Walls said,
adding the case is still pending.
"It was an amazing feat on his part to put his life in jeopardy,"
Walls said. "You don't find that kind of chivalry every day."
