Screwdriver and rage foil would-be robber

[pkt]

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/thep...5-07BE09D63CCE

[You can see a foto of Cathy and her screw driver at the URL.]

Screwdriver and rage foil would-be robber

Cathy Tan, 24, holds screwdriver she used to scare off thief at her family's Surrey grocery story.
CREDIT: Ric Ernst, The Province
Kent Spencer, with a file by Ian Austin
The Province
The best defence is a good fencer.
Store clerk Cathy Tan, a fencer and a fan of Kung Fu movies, took on a knife-wielding robber who demanded money from the till and won.
She sent him running with a well-aimed thrust of a big, honkin' screwdriver, just like in a Bruce Lee fight.
"People tell me I look younger than I am," Tan, 24 and five-feet-two, said last night.
"I'm small. I'm not built like Xena. But I watch a lot of Kung Fu movies -- Hee-ah!"
Her decision to draw a 30-centimetre screwdriver and whack her assailant after he pulled out a 20-centimetre serrated kitchen knife comes from a background where "you earn what you get."
"My parents work at the store 14 hours a day, seven days a week," she said at the Tan family's Crown Produce supermarket at 15138-100 Ave. in Surrey.
"I guess I wasn't scared at the moment. It makes me mad. People wave a knife at you and they don't work for their money.
"His knife was only a kitchen knife. Dad uses a bigger knife to chop vegetables. I would have been afraid if it was a machete."
The gutsy grocer showed off her epee prowess and her first move was a sally she has rehearsed many times as a fencing student at the club level.
Left-handed, the robber brandished the knife across her body; she, also left-handed, parried with an outside motion, just like the sword-fighters of old. There was the clash of steel on steel.
"I thought of lunging towards him with the blade but I hate the sight of blood," said Tan.
With three Tans yelling at him, the robber fled, empty-handed, to the street and was almost hit by a car. He has not been caught.
Tan doesn't advise others to follow her example.
"He wasn't that big," she said. "I don't know if I would have tried it on somebody bigger. I had a feeling it would be OK."
The thief is five-feet-six, slim, with short dark brown hair, clean-cut with fair skin and was wearing brown runners.
The Tan family comes from the school of hard knocks in communist China.
Said Cathy's sister Karen: "In China, life is tough. Thieves went to jail. Here, they don't. Sometimes they are set free."
Surrey RCMP spokesman Tim Shields was pleased the Saturday night drama turned out well.
"But this isn't something we recommend," he said.
kspencer@png.canwest.com
© Copyright 2003 The Province

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Gotta get it through these folks heads:

Always riposte after a successful parry!

[Event Horizon]

chalk one up for the good guys. Girl in this case.

I agree with Slo-mo...she should have riposte after her parry.

[MyraTrue]

You know, I think I have to agree. Hey, she EARNED that reposte! I mean, really earned it. Might as well take it... cause boy, you'd never forget that.

Well done to her!

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Originally posted by MyraTrue
Might as well take it... cause boy, you'd never forget that.

Neither would the robber. Can you spell "deterrent?"

[Talysen]

Well it's nice it worked out for her, but like they ended the article, it's something I wouldn't recommend.

[The0ne]

Why not? People with knives can't hurt you or anthing, whacking them with screwdrivers is the best thing to do!

[arcon]

Who was that famous fencer or coach that was attacked
in a park by multiple robbers? I think he fought them off with an
umbrellia or a cain. I believe he did a real number on them.

anybody know of this?

[KShan5[PrFC]]

Yeah, saw that in a movie too.

[I_luv_saber]

Wow. Talk about your practical application.

[pkt]

I'm considering applying to the Cdn Fencing Federation or the BC Fencing Association at least to give her an Honourary Lifetime Membership.

Yes, I agree, she should have riposted. Last night I was teaching one of our junior sabreurs how to do that with his eyes closed. Even a riposte with the thick end of the screwdriver would suffice.

Anyone remember Eli Sukunda? He used to own a pub and he was stabbed in the back. After that everyone asked him, "Eli, where was your parry riposte?" I guess he got pretty sick of bering asked that!


I guess Cathy, in this case, will go down in the annals of fencing in Canada.

PK

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Welcome to the holidays:

(courtesy AOL News)
ORANGE CITY, Fla. (Nov. 29) - A mob of shoppers rushing for a sale on DVD players trampled the first woman in line and knocked her unconscious as they scrambled for the shelves at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her.

''She got pushed down, and they walked over her like a herd of elephants,'' said VanLester's sister, Linda Ellzey. ''I told them, 'Stop stepping on my sister! She's on the ground!'''

Ellzey said some shoppers tried to help VanLester, and one employee helped Ellzey reach her sister, but most people just continued their rush for deals.

''All they cared about was a stupid DVD player,'' she said Saturday.

Now, if only Ms. VanLester had been carrying a screwdriver...

[Iwant2bafencer]

I'd say that most of the time when robbers and such have a knife they generally havn't the foggiest idea what they're doing with it. It's just there to make them look tough. Go Cathy!

Blasted people and their DVD players. Sheesh. I'd have started grabbin legs, beating them with my bags j/k

[MyraTrue]

sad part is, I almost got up at 4:30 to trundle to Walmart in search of that very player. But I decided sleep was more important, and I don't even OWN any DVD's anyhow.

Glad I slept in.