Weymouth Man Takes Down Armed Robber On Chicago Train, Then Runs Marathon
BOSTON (CBS) - A Weymouth man says he didn't think twice about taking down an armed robber on a Chicago train. Jean-Paul LaPierre said he was on his way to run the Chicago Marathon on Sunday when he jumped into action. Another passenger captured the tense moments on video.
It all started as a train was stopped and riders were rushing for the doors. LaPierre heard passengers in a panic.
"They're like, there's a guy on the train; he's got a gun and he's robbing people," he said.
Rather than flee, LaPierre said he went back on the train and confronted the armed man.
"I end up coming up behind him really fast," he recalled. "My first reaction - I had so much adrenaline going through me - I just started yelling at him to give me the gun."
"When I get him against the door that's when I put my arm into a straight-arm and I leaned, then I tried to kick his legs apart," LaPierre explained. "He was pressed up against the door. And then at the same time I used my right arm to go under and around him and search for the gun."
Once he had the firearm, video shows LaPierre hand it to a bystander while he held onto the suspect.
"I was screaming, 'Get me a police officer!'"
Chicago police took the suspect, who reportedly has multiple arrests on his record, into custody. He was charged with felony robbery and held without bond, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Meanwhile, the 54-year-old LaPierre went on to run the marathon.
"Those people came to run; they came to have a good time," he said, visibly angry. "This guy comes and starts to scare people with a weapon. At the end he's saying to me, 'It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.' Those people matter! They have to go home to their families. It mattered to me."
LaPierre said he has run both the Chicago and Boston Marathon multiple times, though often times as a "bandit", or unregistered runner.
He is no stranger to heroic acts. Last August he helped Newton police wrangle an 8-foot python that was on the loose.
"My life has always been an adventure," he said.