Food truck owner stabbed while protecting woman from armed robber

A food truck driver is recovering instead of selling his famous birrieria after jumping in to help an old woman who had been brutally robbed in Long Beach. 

After a long shift selling out of his food truck Bryan's Birrieria, Bryan Tecun noticed the suspect attacking the woman near the corner of Broadway and Pine Avenue in the early morning hours of March 10. Recognizing the woman, he decided to chase down the suspect and followed him about a block over to Lincoln Park. He confronted the suspect and got her stuff back. 

"It's just you know, an elderly person, somebody that kind of resembled my mom's age," Tecun said. " I would appreciate it if somebody did the same for my mom."

He gave the woman her phone back and told the police, who'd quickly arrived, that he had a little shoulder pain but was ok. 

Within minutes, after the adrenaline wore off, he realized he was not. 

"I got in my truck and drove away. As I was driving on the 710 I started feeling a bit worse," he said. "I started sweating a lot and felt like I was gonna pass out."

Though he said he never saw a weapon, underneath his black sweater Tecun was bleeding. Doctors said he was stabbed twice and his lung collapsed.

Despite a three-day stay at the hospital, Tecun said he would not hesitate to help again. 

"Like I said, I would do it for anybody," he said. "We're here to be here for each other."

The Long Beach Police Department said officers arrested a 29-year-old man for robbery but have not charged with the stabbing because Tecun has not reported it yet. 

A GoFundMe set up to help pay Tecun's medical expenses and his two employees has raised more than $25,000. Doctors believe his recovery could take two months.