Video: Woman Foils Armed Robbery At Gas Pump

SARASOTA, FL — A 55-year-old woman parked at a Sarasota gas pump Thursday morning found herself the target of an armed robber. Deputies, however, say the woman fought back against the tire iron-wielding man long enough to get a good look at him and scare him off.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Elizabeth Wallace was parked at pump No. 19 at the 5761 Bee Ridge Road Radiant just before 7 a.m. Feb. 16. As Wallace got into her car, a man ran up to her armed with a metal object. The man, an arrest report said, demanded Wallace’s purse.

Wallace, however, had no intention of handing it over and attempted to grab the metal object from her attacker. The man swung the object, hitting Wallace in the hand.

After Wallace resisted the robbery attempt, deputies say the man fled the store, but was later caught by in the 4000 block of Cattlemen Road. Wallace was able to identify her attack as Gregory Scribner, the arrest report noted. When deputies checked Scribner’s vehicle, found at a Walmart parking lot, they discovered “a tire iron on the passenger seat” in plain view. Wallace also identified the tire iron as the weapon her attacker was carrying, the report noted.

Video surveillance from the gas station was pulled by investigators that shows the robbery attempt in progress.

Scribner was charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was being held in the Sarasota County Jail Friday without bond.

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Photo and video courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office