Blind Man Robbed At Modesto Bus Stop
MODESTO (CBS13) — A legally blind Modesto man robbed while waiting for a bus. It happened at a bus stop on McHenry and Coolridge.
The man says he was looking at his phone when a thief passed by on a bike and stole it right out of his hands. Luckily, a good Samaritan was watching out for him.
"It doesn't surprise me. I know I would probably make a really easy target," Bob Cole said.
He was getting ready to pick up his two young sons from school when he was robbed at a Modesto bus stop in broad daylight.
"I just kind of got nervous," he said.
Cole is legally blind but does have some sight. His disability, however, is obvious, and moments before he was targeted by the thief, he was checking the time on his phone, holding it close to his eyes—the only way he can see it.
"All of a sudden I felt a jerk and my phone was gone." said Cole.
That's when a man riding his bike snatched the phone from right in front of Cole's face. But, Cole wasn't going to let him get away that easily, so he started chasing the man.
"I just yelled 'hey stop come back here!' And he continued on, and I knew I couldn't keep up, so I just yelled at him, 'God knows who you are and God sees who you are.'"
Passerbys also saw who the man was. Minutes later a woman approached Cole, saying she witnessed the entire thing and went after the thief herself. She was able to get Cole's phone back.
"For others out there who I don't even know to take the time to do that, it makes me very thankful. That's the way I want to be toward others, and that's the way I teach the boys as well," said Cole.
Cole says the good, in this case, outweighs the bad, as people stepped in to help others in need.
As for the man who tried to rip him off, Cole hopes he'll get some help as well.
"I don't harbor any resentment. I'm praying for this guy, whoever he is. I'm praying for him, and I hope he turns his life around one day."
Cole says when his two sons learned what happened they were very upset, but he says it's a good lesson to teach his boys, about the importance of always doing the right thing.