When Larry Skopnik saw a thief attempting to rob a convenience store he decided that he had to intervene to stop him – even though he’s a paraplegic.
The incident took place in East Vancouver, Canada in November of 2010 and was captured on the store’s CCTV camera.
Skopnik, who’d been using a wheelchair for 10 years after being paralysed from the waist down following an ATV accident, was in the store when he noticed a customer becoming irate at a female clerk after she refused to accept a $50 counterfeit bill.
The have-a-go hero decided he had to intervene when the thug barged his way behind the counter and started to struggle with the woman, while threatening to rob the store.
Skopnik, who says he had trained in martial arts before his accident, moved in behind the assailant, grabbed him around the neck as if going for a rear-naked choke and then dragged him backwards, sending him headfirst into a nearby food rack.
The thug got back to his feet and so Skopnik got him in another headlock and bravely moved out of his wheelchair in order to take him to the ground.
Skopnik did remarkably well despite not having the use of his lower body, keeping the criminal down for several seconds until other bystanders also intervened and ensured the still-struggling man was detained until police arrived.
I don’t think there should be any big deal made about it, the modest Skopnik told CTV News Channel later of his heroic deed. Yes I’m in a wheelchair but I still have all the morals and standards that my dad and mother put into me to help people, to stand up to bullies.
“People have a perception of people in wheelchairs as being unable when we’re 99 percent able. There’s only four things I can’t do in life, and that’s walk, run, jump and kick. Everything else I’m totally able to do, and helping other people is one of them.”
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Skopnik was rewarded for his good deed with a new wheelchair, and thanks to his local hero status he says that there’s always someone willing to pay for his drinks when he shows up at the local bar.
