A good Samaritan was hospitalized after confronting a thief who had assaulted and robbed an elderly woman in Long Beach.
Bryan Tecun, owner of Bryan’s Birrieria food truck, said the incident happened on March 11. After working a long shift, Tecun was ready to pack up for the night.
As he drove his food truck home, that’s when he spotted the elderly woman being assaulted on the street near Broadway and Pine Avenue.
Acting on instinct, he immediately rushed over to help her.
“I’ve seen her on the street walking by plenty of times,” Tecun said. “I asked her, ‘What happened?’ as I helped her get up. I saw the [suspect] running. She said, ‘He stole all my stuff!’”
That’s when Tecun hopped back into his truck and chased the thief down the street. He drove about three blocks down Ocean Boulevard before stopping at Lincoln Park.
Tecun spotted the suspect near the skate park area and confronted him.
“We had a brief altercation,” Tecun said. “While I was getting her belongings back, I felt like my shoulder might have gotten dislocated.”
The police were eventually called and arrived on the scene, taking the suspect into custody.
Tecun dismissed the need for any medical attention at the time. He got back into his truck and drove about 15 minutes to his next destination — a catering center in Paramount.
A security guard at the center asked to see Tecun’s shoulder after hearing the story of what happened moments earlier.
“As I’m taking the black sweater off, he notices I had blood on my shirt,” Tecun recalled. “So I called the ambulance.”
He discovered he had been stabbed twice — once in the shoulder area and another time in the ribcage — and was bleeding internally.
The injuries left Tecun hospitalized for three days. After being released, he’ll need to spend the next month or so recovering at home.
Although Tecun is thankful to be alive, he said the toughest part of his recovery is not being able to work and earn a living through his food truck. He’s distraught that he won’t be able to pay his two employees during this time.
“I’m just trying to recover and get back out there as soon as possible,” Tecun said.
A GoFundMe page to help Tecun with medical expenses and food truck bills as he recovers can be found here.