Florida Bank Customer Stops Bank Robber

For the love of God, if you are ever involved in a justified use of force incident, DO NOT SPEAK TO THE MEDIA!

Bank Customer Stops Knife-Wielding Robber

Customer: 'I Split Him Like A Pinata'

POSTED: 12:24 pm EDT May 1, 2010

WESH TV Orlando

TITUSVILLE, Fla. -- An armed robbery at a Titusville bank Friday night was thwarted by a customer, police said.

It was the second incident in as many days in the area that a Good Samaritan had taken down a bank robber.

"I should have blown him away," said David, who asked not to have his last name released.

He was a customer at Riverside Bank when a man held up the place with a knife.

When the robber ran out, David said he chased him through the mud in his socks and caught him.

"I split him like a piñata," David said. "There were $20 (bills) all over the place."

David had his .357-caliber Magnum on him. He said his concealed weapons permit and right to carry a gun are very important to him.

"Everybody get a gun," David said.

Another concealed weapons permit holder, Ruben Torres, foiled a bank robber in Palm Bay 24 hours earlier. In that case, the guy gave up easily. This was different, David said.

"He was trying to use his knife," he said. "I pistol-whipped him and split his head open and got blood all over me." Police identified the suspect as 55-year-old Michael Peterson, of Titusville.

He was put under observation at a nearby hospital before being taken to jail.