A knife-wielding criminal did not stand a chance against an 86-year-old Chinese business owner in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Armed with just a bamboo stick, the elderly man, identified as Charles Liu, effectively defended his store on Sunday from an intruder identified as 49-year-old Thomas Baker.
Baker got himself beaten up by the incensed store owner after allegedly causing a great deal of disturbance in the establishment at the 700 block of Grant Avenue at around 3:50 p.m., reports the San Francisco Gate.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, the octogenarian businessman had initially asked Baker to leave. But instead of heeding the owner’s request, the suspect responded by punching the old man in the back of his head repeatedly.
When the store owner noticed that Baker was, in fact, carrying a knife, he immediately grabbed a bamboo stick to defend himself.
In an interview with ABC7 News, Liu said via an interpreter that he immediately grabbed a bamboo Kung-Fu stick which was part of a sales display.
“Because he was mad, he was really mad,” Liu said.
Using his stick, the elderly man was able to disarm the assailant, who reportedly dropped his knife after being hit multiple times. The man then fled the scene immediately after that.
Soon after, local authorities apprehended Baker, who has since been charged with aggravated assault, elder abuse and violating probation.
SFPD spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak said that Baker has been previously on probation for a prior charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
As for the badass the store owner, Andraychak said, he sustained a head injury but refused medical treatment.
“Fortunately, the victim was not injured too badly, it would seem,” he added.
Feature image via ABC San Francisco
