Fort Lauderdale waiter foils carjacking ... then g
Fort Lauderdale waiter foils carjacking ... then gets fired
By Macollvie Jean-Fran?ois
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 11, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE
As the lunch rush started Monday, waiter Juan Canales stopped a carjacker from taking a woman's Honda CRV out of the parking lot where he worked.
Hours later he lost his job.
At about 11:30 a.m. Monday, Massiel Marquardt, 22, walked out of a Subway restaurant at the Southland Shopping Center in the 900 block of State Road 84. A man approached her from behind and pointed a 4-inch pocketknife at her left side, she said.
"He said, 'Give me your car keys or you're gonna die,'" said Marquardt, who moved to South Florida from Georgia two weeks ago. "Honestly, I don't know where he came from."
Marquardt said she handed over the keys to her 2007 Honda and ran back toward the shops, screaming, "Help me!"
Canales, 42, who was opening up 84 Thai Food for the lunch crowd, sprang into action. He said he caught up to the suspect, Albert Means, 46, and told him, "You're not leaving with this truck."
Canales said the suspect pulled out the knife to stab him but Canales grabbed a two-by-four piece of woodfrom a nearby truck. Canales said he swung at Means and threatened to hit him with the wood if he tried to get into Marquardt's Honda.
The man lowered his knife, and Canales brought him to the ground. Three other men in the crowd that had formed rushed forward to hold Means down until police arrived.
"It was a man's instinct," said Canales, a married father of three who has six sisters. "That's all it was. I saw a woman in distress."
Police said they arrested Means on aggravated assault and armed robbery charges. He had two arrest warrants out, one for drug paraphernalia possession and another for probation violation, Detective Kathy Collins said. He is being held in the Broward County Jail.
Canales, who worked at 84 Thai Food for three weeks, returned to work after spending an hour talking to police and the media. Once the lunch shift ended, his boss fired him.
"The owner got belligerent" about all the attention his scuffle with the carjacker generated, Canales said.
The owner, listed in corporate records as Sathaporn Yosagraiof Fort Lauderdale, could not be reached for comment despite two calls to the restaurant and one to his home.
A former electrician, Canales was convicted of robbery in 2004 and attempted cocaine possession in 2006, Florida criminal records show. He served prison time and has been working to stay on a straight path ever since.
"I was a bad person once upon a time and I decided to change my life," Canales said. "That doesn't have anything to do with what I did."
When he was fired another instinct kicked in, as Canales tried to figure out how to support his wife, Jennifer, and sons Eddy, 2, Jason, 8, and Miguel, 16.
"Like any other father on this planet and in this world, I gotta take my butt out here and get another job," he said.
Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Macollvie Jean-Fran?ois can be reached at mjfrancois@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7922.
Copyright c 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Macollvie Jean-Fran?ois
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 11, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE
As the lunch rush started Monday, waiter Juan Canales stopped a carjacker from taking a woman's Honda CRV out of the parking lot where he worked.
Hours later he lost his job.
At about 11:30 a.m. Monday, Massiel Marquardt, 22, walked out of a Subway restaurant at the Southland Shopping Center in the 900 block of State Road 84. A man approached her from behind and pointed a 4-inch pocketknife at her left side, she said.
"He said, 'Give me your car keys or you're gonna die,'" said Marquardt, who moved to South Florida from Georgia two weeks ago. "Honestly, I don't know where he came from."
Marquardt said she handed over the keys to her 2007 Honda and ran back toward the shops, screaming, "Help me!"
Canales, 42, who was opening up 84 Thai Food for the lunch crowd, sprang into action. He said he caught up to the suspect, Albert Means, 46, and told him, "You're not leaving with this truck."
Canales said the suspect pulled out the knife to stab him but Canales grabbed a two-by-four piece of woodfrom a nearby truck. Canales said he swung at Means and threatened to hit him with the wood if he tried to get into Marquardt's Honda.
The man lowered his knife, and Canales brought him to the ground. Three other men in the crowd that had formed rushed forward to hold Means down until police arrived.
"It was a man's instinct," said Canales, a married father of three who has six sisters. "That's all it was. I saw a woman in distress."
Police said they arrested Means on aggravated assault and armed robbery charges. He had two arrest warrants out, one for drug paraphernalia possession and another for probation violation, Detective Kathy Collins said. He is being held in the Broward County Jail.
Canales, who worked at 84 Thai Food for three weeks, returned to work after spending an hour talking to police and the media. Once the lunch shift ended, his boss fired him.
"The owner got belligerent" about all the attention his scuffle with the carjacker generated, Canales said.
The owner, listed in corporate records as Sathaporn Yosagraiof Fort Lauderdale, could not be reached for comment despite two calls to the restaurant and one to his home.
A former electrician, Canales was convicted of robbery in 2004 and attempted cocaine possession in 2006, Florida criminal records show. He served prison time and has been working to stay on a straight path ever since.
"I was a bad person once upon a time and I decided to change my life," Canales said. "That doesn't have anything to do with what I did."
When he was fired another instinct kicked in, as Canales tried to figure out how to support his wife, Jennifer, and sons Eddy, 2, Jason, 8, and Miguel, 16.
"Like any other father on this planet and in this world, I gotta take my butt out here and get another job," he said.
Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Macollvie Jean-Fran?ois can be reached at mjfrancois@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7922.
Copyright c 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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NO reason for that man to be fired! 0 -
quote:Originally posted by cubslover
NO reason for that man to be fired!
Hopefully for the best.[:)]0 -
With the media attention he'll be offered a better job before the week is up. 0 -
Who wants to work for a dude named Sathaporn, anyhow??[V]
Jeff0 -
With an owners name like that I doubt he knows that it is an AMERICAN tradition to help woman and children. 0 -
Pray he gets a better job. He seems to have turned his life around, so he deserves a break. 0 -
I sure hope someone organizes a protest against the Thai restaurant at least for a few weeks. 0 -
guy turns his life around, goes straight, and he just gets beaten back down. thats terrible. 0 -
quote:NO reason for that man to be fired! Sure there was. Obviously the owner of the Thai restaurant didn't want the "attention" cause he has something to hide. If I were the cops I'd be staking out the restaurant for a while. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by cubslover
NO reason for that man to be fired!
Boss is stupid, I'd do business with a company that had a man like that on his payroll anytime.. In fact had he worked for me I'd have put up a sign that said, "come on in and meet our hero"!!! Get your autographed menu...no purchase necessary0 -
Piece of SHEEIIIT owner needs a good american, this is how we do it, azzwhoopin[}:)] 0
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