Firefighters are used to putting out blazes, but a member of a Texas department snuffed a robbery attempt last month.
Video of the takedown at the Oasis Food Store in Midlothian, Texas, on June 26 was recently released by the police department.
In it, a masked would-be robber pushes a customer — later identified by NBC station KFOR as Mansfield firefighter and former Marine Daniel Gaskey — aside and puts a knife on the counter at around 6:18 a.m.
Gaskey puts his hands up, pauses a moment, and then springs into action, jumping on the robber’s back, dragging him to the ground, and holding him there until police arrived, Midlothian police said.
The firefighter told NBC News he stopped at the gas station for coffee on his way to work, as he does most mornings. He was talking with the woman behind the register when the would-be robber quickly entered.
“My first thought is, ‘What are you doing pushing me?’”
As soon as Gaskey realized what was happening, he tackled the man, landed on top of him, and made sure he pulled the knife away.
"He then said, 'I'm not fighting anymore,'" said Gaskey, who was a Marine for eight years and has a wife and two children.
The suspect, Dylan Bearden, 19, was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery, police said. He remained held in lieu of $200,000 bond at the Ellis County Jail Wednesday, according to jail records.
Midlothian police Capt. John D. Spann told NBC News that while police don’t recommend bystanders taking action into their own hands, police appreciated that Gaskey was able to take down Bearden so quickly.
Gaskey said he assessed the situation and decided he could control it.
“Sometimes there’s a job that needs to get done," he said. "You have to be willing to stand up and help each other.”
