Fighting Crime, One Country at a Time
I had been walking for about fifteen minutes and just turned onto Calle de Princesa, where the Zara store is on the corner, when I glanced up and nearly gagged myself with disbelief. I had just witnessed this short Spanish, possibly Romanian, guy around his early forties grab something out of this girl's purse then quickly start walking down the street I had turned off of.
I ran up to the girl and pointed to her purse and exclaimed, "That guy just grabbed something out of your purse!!!, then pointed at the guilty party walking away. Fortunately, the Spanish girl's friend spoke English and told her friend and the girl looked in her purse and shouted, "Mi Cartera!!" which means, "My wallet!!" in Español. From that point on, something clicked in my head and I went in to justice mode, or to put it another way, BATMAN mode! I threw my jacket and purse to the girls, who happened to be around my age, and said, "Hold this!" I then took off down the street chasing after the guy!
Now, before you start ridiculing me and telling me how crazy I am, let me first say; I have been studying criminal justice for four years to do exactly this. Guns are illegal in Spain and are rarely found on the streets; and the guy was smaller then me. I could have easily just stomped on him with the pinky toe of my big black boot.
Now, back to the craziness. I am running down the street chasing after this guy. He is quick walking and focusing on the people ahead of him. He was wearing a large backpack, which was great for me, because it is slowing him down even more. He hadn't a clue that a crazy lady witnessed the shady action he pulled and how she was just about to bust his serenity. I pulled down hard on the guy's backpack pulling it right off his shoulders. I sure scared the hell out of him. I scooted away a reasonable distance, then held the backpack high in the air behind me and thrust my hand out and kind of shook it around shouting, AHORA!! AHORA!! meaning NOW, (like give it to me!) He started shouting at me in Spanish. I just kept saying the same thing. By this time, pretty much all the people walking on both sides of the street have stopped and are watching us. Was this a lame desperate street act trying to conjure up extra euros from nearby tourists??? Is this girl robbing this guy? What is going on? Eventually, the two girls catch up and are right behind me. I shouted at them to "tell him this! and, "Tell him that!" and guided them on what to say. Finally, the guy couldn't take it anymore and gave up. He thought we were going to get the police. He threw the wallet at me and I told the girl to grab it and look inside to make sure everything was in it. After she told me everything was intact, I threw the backpack at the guy and shouted, Estupido!!!!, then spit on the ground in front of him. He slung his backpack around his shoulder, then darted down the street, through the crowds of people who had gathered around.
Everyone started clapping and one woman shouted, Justicia, finalmente!!!
The girl offered me money, but in good conscience I couldn't take it. All I knew was it was about 6:30 pm and I had to be home at 7:00 pm to tutor my Spanish family! I told them, "de nada", and starting walking back to my bus stop like nothing ever happened.
Although, my adrenaline has taken over and my heart is racing like I just downed a pitcher of coffee, I am proud to say that I am fightin' crime one country at a time! LOL
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