Off-duty St. Paul police officer recalls moment he stopped attempted robbery: "Right time, right place"
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Father's Day outing quickly turned dangerous, and it was all caught on camera.
It happened inside The Best Steak House in St. Paul.
Off-duty St. Paul police officer Jonathan Valencia was out with his family when he noticed a man walking back and forth before cutting in line. Immediately, he says he had a bad feeling about him.
"I noticed this individual raising a red flag in my brain," Valencia said.
Surveillance video from inside the restaurant shows the very moment the moment the suspect reached for the tip jar.
"At that point, I knew I had to intervene," Valencia said.
In the video, the suspect grabs the tip jar before going towards the door. A customer in line grabbed his shirt, and that's when Valencia stepped in.
"As he tries to get away from a guy holding his shirt, I saw a knife," he said.
You can see Valencia mouthing commands before reaching for his gun. The situation spills outside before the suspect lets go of the knife.
"We were just lucky we had an off-duty police officer on sight at that time," said co-owner Irene Katras.
Katras and her husband, Viktor Vasileiadis, say the restaurant was only open for three months before this happened.
A fire shut them down for over a year before they reopened this past March.
It was these steaks and cooking that brought in Valencia and his family a time when he was needed before he even knew.
"It was right time, right place," Valencia smiled.
The 39-year-old man faces two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery. In a post-Miranda interview, the man said he was trying to take the tip jar because he was hungry, and pulled the knife because he thought the staff member was going to hurt him.