If more people defended themselves, there would be less crime. I know this is simplistic, but facts support it. An involved and armed citizenry, even if non-lethally armed, cuts crime rates.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Police are on the lookout for a man who walked into a local Dotty’s, implied he had a gun in his jacket and tried to rob the place but was thwarted by a clerk who wasn’t about to back down.

The crime happened around 1:30 a.m. on July 10 at the Dotty’s at 2705 N.E. 238th Drive in Troutdale.

According to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, the clerk in the store punched the suspect and pepper sprayed him as he ran to his vehicle. The man fled the scene in a white 1990s Ford Explorer with a rear license plate that was obscured and unreadable.

The suspect is described as a white male with a possible beard or full goatee. He is about 5 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds.

This true story is about a man who witnesses a hit and run crash and took matters into his own hands. He followed a hit-and-run suspect and stopped him with pepper spray. Good for him!

With the help of a good Samaritan, Knoxville, TN Police arrested a man who crashed into another car and fled the scene.

Police said Larry Bashears crashed his 2004 Nissan Titan pick up into the car of Mary Johnson of Lexington on Wednesday on the 9000 block of Kingston Pike. And he never stopped.

Peter Bolton witnessed the crash and after checking on Johnson followed Bashears down Kingston Pike and Concord Rd.

“I wanted to find out why he was running,” Bolton said. “And then one thing lead to another.”

Bolton said Bashears’ drove as far as he could on three tires until his engine blew out. That’s when the two men confronted one another and Bolton pepper sprayed him.

“Eventually he came to the floor and I managed to get his right arm around the stop sign. He eventually stopped trying to escape,” said Bolton who held Bashears down until the police showed up.

Just remember, if he hadn’t been carrying pepper spray, he may have done the same thing but would have been in greater danger.