76 year-old woman defends against 100-pound teen carjacker

[Betty]

Nebraska Woman, 76, Puts Up Her Dukes and Fends Off 17-Year-Old Would-Be Car Robber

LINCOLN, Neb.*Nov 29, 2005 —*Pick on someone your own age. Maybe the 17-year-old Omaha girl will remember that the next time she decides to tangle with a feisty churchgoer. After church on Sunday, Pearl Fritts, 76, decided to drive and visit her mom at a nursing home.

When Fritts arrived, she told police, she pulled up behind the home to drop off some recyclables. As she removed the articles, she heard someone behind her ask whether she wanted help. No, Fritts said.

That's when she got clobbered.

"She just slammed my head against that bin," Fritts said. "I was so shocked."

So shocked and now angered that she whipped around and put up her dukes.

"I think she was surprised that a little old, gray-haired lady with glasses would come around swinging," Fritts said.

Why'd you do that, she asked the girl, who replied that she wanted Fritts' car.

The teenager was taller, Fritts said, but couldn't weigh more than 100 pounds.

Soon the girl realized Fritts wasn't about to give up the car, so she ran.

Fritts drove home and a neighbor gave her a ride to a hospital for some treatment.

After Fritts' report to the police, the girl was found and picked up at a nearby restaurant.

A Lincoln police spokeswoman said the girl was looking for a way back home to Omaha after running away from a Lincoln treatment center.

Fritts acknowledged that her feisty reaction might not have very smart.

"If this never happens again it will be too soon," she said.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[MattInFla]

Way to go grandma!!!!!

True story from my EMS days:

Back in the early 90s, we had a rash of muggings where the assailant would hide under a car, and when the person came back to the car he would grab their ankles and yank, causing the victim to fall backwards. Not very smart, but he's a criminal.

One day, he hides under a car in the local shopping mall, and a 70-something lady comes back to her car, and he puts his plan into action. Down she goes, and he slides out to grab her purse and run. Or, that was his idea. Unfortunately for him, he was a lot less of a badass than he thought he was.

It had been raining earlier, so the lady was carrying an umbrella. She proceeded to beat 6 kinds of snot out of this little punk with her umbrella. Messed him up pretty good as the umbrella came apart and she continued to beat him with the remains of the umbrella, which by now had some unpleasant sharp bits of metal sticking out at various angles.

The police arrived on the scene a few minutes later and took him into custody. They called us to take care of the wounds so he could be off to jail. Of course, being a 20 year old punk, he wanted to break bad and was telling the police and fire/rescue folks he was going to "get" us.

At which point, the patrol supervisor for the city police leaned up next to the guy and said "You just got your ass whipped by a little old lady. Do you think any of *us* are afraid of you?". He sulked the whole way to the hospital, where he spent some time being stitched up on his way to jail.

He ended up getting 4-8 years in the state prison system, where I am sure he was quite careful not to tell the true story of his arrest. :D

Don't mess with grandma!

Matt

[rstickle]

Pearl Fritts, 76, decided to drive and visit her mom at a nursing home.

I think the above is almost the most amazing thing. I just never seem to think of 76 year olds having living parents, although I hope my kids will be able to say they're coming to visit when they are 76!

[P95Carry]

Good for her

I think one thing this illustrates is how anger can be useful. Once attacked and feeling totally P'd at the aggressor - anger can be put to good effect, and helps defence. She had to do something it'd seem as escape was not available.

In an ideal world, awareness would not have allowed someone to come up behind her as it appears happened.

And yeah - who has living parents at age 76? Wow!

[raevan]

Her parents would only have to be in their 90's thats not so rare, at least in my family.

[rocky]

good for her, makes me really ticked to think how some treat our elderly folks. I worry about my grandmother, as she lives in a bigger city (for MI anyway) and is getting a bit weak with age .