Workers tackle, hold down would-be thief at Dearborn Heights gas station

Dearborn Gas station owner says man grabbed cash off desk, tried to run away

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – A would-be robber picked the wrong Dearborn Heights store to try to rip off.

Mike Roy owns a gas and service station on Ford Road near Telegraph Road. He's been in business for 30 years.

--Mike Roy

In an interview with Local 4, Roy said he was preparing $3,000 for a bank deposit in his office last Monday when a man walked in.

"The character comes in and he asks me something about if I'm hiring and I said, 'No, not at this time,'" Roy said. "I turned back and he just leaned over me and said, 'Well I'll just take these,' and takes two handfuls of bills."

Roy said he thought it was a joke.

"But then I just yelled out, 'Hey, he's robbing me,'" he said.

But the man didn't get very far.

Roy, a customer and a station employees went after the man, tackling him and holding him down until police arrived.

"Boy, we are quite lucky. Had he got the car started, pulled out onto Ford Road, had there been traffic coming, it could have wiped four or five of us out," Roy said.

--The would-be robber is caught right outside the service station

The whole incident was caught on Roy's security cameras.

The suspect is due in court later this week.