The attempted robbery took place on September 25 in the early morning hours at Goodfellas Bail Bonds on Main Street and Bonneville. News 3's Dan Ball spoke with the man who fought off the two crooks.
Dale Hazel is a former cop from Texas. He works the graveyard shift as a bail bondsman. On September 25, the doorbell rang at around 4:30 a.m.
"I saw a mask, then I saw the weapon, so tried to grab the weapon," recalls Dale. " I didn't really get a hold of it - I kind of wrestled with the dude - spun around. He pulled the gun on me. I had it up against the wall."
Dale grabbed the first suspect holding the gun and as the second suspect entered, Dale somehow amazingly forced both of them back outside.
"You find out about yourself in times like that, you know," says Dale. "You have a fight-or-flight response to things. Turns out my response is to fight. So I was thinking, lets take it to the street and try and get some help...and hopefully I don't get shot in the process."
Once the two men took off from Goodfellas, Dale grabbed his handgun, jumped in his car, and took off after them. Within seconds, he was pulled over by Metro Police.
Once Dale worked out the situation with Metro, they began looking for the two armed men and caught one of them on Bonneville and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Police arrested Devion Austin, who has been in trouble with the law before. In fact, Dale's boss, Gina Caruso, says they've bailed Devion out of jail in the past.
"He had a balance due," says Gina. "I guess he came to rob it from us so he could pay it."
While police continue looking for the other wiseguy who tried to rob Dale, this Goodfella says he'll never forget about it.
"I was really happy to go home to my family that night - that's the truth. I was really happy to see my kids."
1 comment:
WOW what a story, great article!
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