Good News Monday

Ugh. Mondays.

But here’s a non-alcoholic blues chaser, one you can consume safely at work. From AP via Yahoo News:

An American tourist who watched as a U.S. military veteran in his 70s used his bare hands to kill an armed assailant in Costa Rica said she thought the attempted robbery was a joke — until the masked attacker held a gun to her head.

“I thought it was a skit. But then he pointed the gun at my head and grabbed me by the throat and I thought I was going to die,” Clova Adams, 54, told The Associated Press...

[...]

Adams was with 12 American tourists who hired a driver to explore Costa Rica for a few hours. They were climbing out of the van to visit a Caribbean beach when three masked men ran toward them, she said. One held a gun to her head, while the other two pulled out knives.

Suddenly, one of the tourists, a U.S. military veteran trained in self defense, jumped out of the van and put the gunman in a headlock, according to Limon police chief Luis Hernandez.

Hernandez said the American, whom he refused to identify, struggled with the robber, breaking his collarbone and eventually killing him. Police identified the dead man as Warner Segura, 20. The other two assailants fled.

[...]

Costa Rican officials interviewed the Americans, and said they wouldn’t charge the U.S. tourist with any crime because he acted in self defense.

“They were in their right to defend themselves after being held up,” Hernandez said. He said Segura had previous charges against him for assaults.

Just goes to show that some old soldiers don’t fade away after all.

And it’s good to know that Costa Rica has a sane view of self-defense. I’m glad these tourists weren’t getting off the bus in, say, the Cotswolds. That poor geezer would be in the clinker now, facing jail time, fines, and trying to get the nearest American consulate to help him find a lawyer.

Smart move, Costa Rica. Your tourist appeal just went up. There are opportunistic criminals no matter where you go. It’s what happens after you attempt to defend yourself that counts.

[Heads-up Britain - give Costa Rica a call re: some lessons on “sanity and self-defense.” Think of all the paperwork it would save your poor hamstrung police departments.]

I hope we eventually learn the identity of the ex-military man. Maybe a parade and medals are in order. At the very least the tourists he saved could take up a collection for him and hand over a handsome check for his derring-do.

There could have been some expensive American funerals had he not been aboard that bus, no?


Hat tip: Wizbang Bomb Squad

[Post ends here. Back to your snow-covered sidewalks]