A doughnut shop owner said he fought back against tip-box thieves because he was tired of criminals taking away his livelihood.
Nico Chia He told KNBC TV In the more than three years he’s owned Nico’s Donuts in Redondo Beach, he’s already been robbed five times, including the most recent incident when a man tried to steal from his tip box, but Chia said the man didn’t back down.
“Nico just kicked his ass and got his money back.”
“If someone is in trouble, I always give them a donut or two. I don’t mind at all. But if they come to steal, it’s a different story,” Chea said.
Ms Chia was making a sandwich when she saw a man on CCTV footage grabbing money from a jar, and she rushed outside to confront him.
The video is Obtained and published A video posted by KNBC on their YouTube channel shows officers taking the man’s money back and shoving him out of the store as stunned bystanders look on.
“My first reaction was just to charge in and get everything back from him,” he said.
“Get outta here!” he yells in the video.
Mr Chea said it was only a few dollars but he took action to protect the business he had built by working 11-hour days.
“I love this community,” he added. “Everyone who comes here is like family.”
He said the store had been robbed five times before, including on Dec. 30 when someone tried to break in at 5:30 a.m. while the store was preparing doughnuts.
“If I hadn’t shouted, they would have come in,” he explained.
The robbers fled with the cash register and several hundred dollars. That incident.
When customers found out about the incident, they came to the store to give Chia tips and show their support.
“It breaks my heart when you’re trying to keep a small business going on your own and then you see someone try to take that business away,” said donut customer Pam Sander.
“Also, it’s scary that there are a lot of crazy people out there that would do something like this, so I was really happy to see Nico kick some ass and get his money back,” she added.
Niko’s Donuts is located on 190th Street. On Instagram.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this directly to your inbox. Register here!
