Nobody messes with grandma.
A 74-year-old Birmingham, Ala., woman defended herself from a robbery and beating in a store parking lot earlier this week, before some good samaritans stepped in and rescued her.
Brenda Stinson admits to being terrified when her assailant attacked her.
“I just knew that was it for me,’’ she said, according to AL.com “I just thought I wasn’t going to be here no more.”
But that didn’t mean the elderly woman was going down without a fight.
“I grabbed him between his legs. I grabbed him good between his legs,’’ she said. “That’s always been my plan because that’s a man’s weak spot, but I didn’t know it was going to come true. I know he’s going to be sore.”
Get it, Grandma.
The terrifying incident all unfolded on Wednesday morning at a shopping center in Midfield. Stinson had just bought some groceries from Piggly Wiggly and gone into the pharmacy to pick up some medicine. When she returned to her SUV, the suspect grabbed her, seemingly out of nowhere.
“I got ready to come to my car and open the door. That’s when he grabbed me. He grabbed me so quick,’’ she said. “We got to tussling. He was trying to get my money, but I was holding onto my pocket.”
The street-savvy older woman apparently never carried a purse, keeping her money in a brown bag in her pocket. Stinson believes the suspect had cased her, because he knew exactly where to look for her money.
“We tussled about four or five minutes before anybody saw us,’’ she said. “He threw me to the ground and I threw my money on the seat in the car.”
Passersby quickly noticed what was happening and came rushing to Stinson’s rescue.
“That’s when folks started running toward me,” Stinson said. “This man came and grabbed him and then he took him and he throwed him to the ground.”
“It just hurt my heart to see that,’’ witness Kimberly Whitehead added.
In addition to being slammed to the ground, Stinson was also allegedly punched in the face with a closed fist, leaving her swollen and sore, but mostly okay.
The man who tossed the suspect was identified as William Daniels, who brushed off his heroics.
“Who would sit back and watch a criminal beat a lady like that?” Daniels asked AL.com.
Daniels kept the suspect, who remains unidentified, restrained until police arrived, even as the suspect struggled and yelled that he had AIDS, in an attempt to startle Daniels.
“He was lying,’’ Stinson said. “He thought that man would let him go if he said he had AIDS.”
Midfield Police Sgt. Jesse Bell praised Daniels for his quick thinking.
“He was a godsend. We don’t know what he would have done had they not been there,’’ Bell said. “We’re thankful he was there to stop it. We need more community involvement like this.”
According to Bell, detectives are still working to obtain formal warrants against the suspect.
Stinson, meanwhile, is hoping to meet Daniels.
“I need to try to get in touch with him,’’ she said, “and let him know I appreciate him.’’