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New Bedford, Massachusetts, America, 2 December 2011

One NRI Gujarati Priyank Patel, a store clerk in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A. was injured during a confrontation with an accused robber in his store last Monday. Patel fought off the robber armed with a knife inside a convenience store.

According to Priyank Patel, the robber came in and yelled for money when he was cleaning the store on last Monday at 5:30 pm. Robber had a big bag with a mask and yellow glasses.

Priyank Patel said, “I stood up and I punched him in his eyes or in his glasses so I think the glass broke in his eye so at that time he tried to punch me again he missed I went down and back and I punch him again so I punch him twice. In the midst of the struggle I was stabbed in my chest. He just turned around and ran out without taking anything.”

Priyank Patel got four stitches after rushing to the hospital. He was back to the work on Thursday. He was relieved that the armed robber ran away without anything. “If you don’t fight back some other guys may come back and they may rob you again,.” said Patel.

Patel did not remember what went through his mind.

“No idea — just gotta save myself,” he said.

“I didn’t know he had a knife. But it’s still better to defend yourself,” said Patel, who returned to work Tuesday after spending Monday night at Rhode Island Hospital, where he received four stitches to close a small puncture wound to his chest.

“If he had a gun, I wouldn’t have tried hitting him,” Patel said.

Retaliating against an armed robber is never a good idea, Vicente said.

“You don’t know what the person is capable of, especially if he’s under the influence of something,” Vicente said.

“The best thing to do is try to be the best possible witness you can. Be aware of your surroundings. Try to see if the robber leaves on foot or in car, and see what direction they travel.”

The manager at United Grocery, who did not want his name published, said he tells his clerks to comply during armed robberies.

“It happens all the time. It’s very frustrating. It’s very unsettling. I personally think it’s because of the economy,” he said.

United Grocery has been robbed twice this month. Other stores that have been targeted in November include the 7-Eleven at 1389 Phillips Road, Expos II at 309 Dartmouth St., Walgreens Pharmacy at 1103 Kempton St., and the Costa’s Cash Express locations on Hathaway Road and County Street.

“There are some similarities in the robberies that we’re looking at. Most of them have been done at knifepoint by guys wearing masks. But the heights, weights and skin complexions of the suspects are different in some of them,” Vicente said.

Police encourage convenience store owners to staff two clerks during a shift as well as clearing any clutter from the windows so that people can look inside the store with an unobstructed view.

Vicente said uniformed patrol and detectives are also communicating with narcotics investigators because of the strong likelihood that drug-addicted people are robbing the stores.

“We will be targeting certain areas around certain businesses that are most susceptible around certain times of the evening,” Vicente said.

New Bedford police has mas made no arrest yet.

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