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June 27, 2007
Reason # 6847485960567
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.
He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.
"I guess he thought I was an easy mark," Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.
He's anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.
Jesse Daniel Rae, the 27-year-old Newaygo County man accused of trying to pick Barnes' pocket, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery, a 15-year felony.
Barnes said he had just withdrawn the money from a bank machine and put it in the pocket of his shorts before driving to the Marathon service station and Next Door Food Store in Comstock park, a Grand Rapids suburb.
He remembers noticing a patron acting suspiciously, asking the price of different brands of cigarettes and other items. While turned away, Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, so he took action.
"I guess I acted on instinct," he said.
Kent County sheriff's deputies said the store manager quickly came around the counter. The three of them struggled through the front door, where two witnesses said the manager slammed Rae to the ground and held him there.
"There was blood everywhere," said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.
Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marines in 1956.
He lived most of his adult life in Comstock Park with his wife, Patricia, before recently moving to Ottawa County. The couple have three children.
After retiring as an iron worker, he now works part-time as a starter at a golf course.
Barnes said he'd probably do the same thing again under the same circumstances, if for no other reason than what he would face back home.
"I wouldn't want my wife to give me hell for lettin' that guy get my money," he said with a smile.
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Thank you so much for the tip, Austin, this is just the kind of story I needed to read today.
Posted by LindaSoG at June 27, 2007 01:27 PM
Comments
Oh, goody! Some old guy I can beat the crap out of. Let's see, I'll just sneak up like this and...
POW! (Insert Batman TV series graphics here)
"You have the the right to recover very slowly. You have the right to a surgeon..."
Well, you know the rest.
Old Marines are no less lethal than the younger ones, (and they do tend to smash up the shuffleboard discs when they get angry).
Posted by: Kevin M at June 27, 2007 01:44 PM
That is awesome. Good for him!
Posted by: fabulinus at June 27, 2007 03:20 PM
I'm surprised Rae hasn't sued Barnes for every penny he owns.
Posted by: Van Helsing at June 27, 2007 06:31 PM
I will call and raise you on this one- your Marine's knockout with my Marine taking out an armed robber-
Posted by: Vince at June 28, 2007 02:36 PM