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Big Balls
80-year-old vet fights mugger in hospital
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 8, 2007 9:52:14 EDT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An 80-year-old veteran and former amateur boxer got 13 stitches after fighting with a mugger inside a bathroom at a veterans hospital.
George Younger showed he wasn’t an easy target when he was robbed Tuesday inside the Memphis Veterans Medical Center.
As he was washing his hands, the robber hit and punched him from behind and tried to drag him into one of the stalls.
“He kept telling me if I go to the stall, he wouldn’t hurt me,” he said. “No way I was going into that stall.”
An Army infantryman stationed in the South Pacific in World War II and a welterweight amateur boxer from Memphis, he fought back and landed a few shots.
“I think I got him good — I don’t like being called a victim,” he told The Commercial Appeal on Thursday.
But Younger was overpowered by the mugger and he started calling for help when the mugger began to choke him.
“He hit me twice; he was a pretty big guy,” Younger said. “He pulled me to the ground and hit me again and staggered me. I guess I wasn’t in as good a shape as I thought I was.”
Younger said he didn’t know how the mugger got into the hospital because identification is needed to get into the building. Memphis police are investigating.
“I don’t understand — in a hospital, where you’re supposed to be safe,” Younger said at his Dyersburg home.
A message left for the hospital’s spokeswoman wasn’t immediately returned Saturday.
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 8, 2007 9:52:14 EDT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An 80-year-old veteran and former amateur boxer got 13 stitches after fighting with a mugger inside a bathroom at a veterans hospital.
George Younger showed he wasn’t an easy target when he was robbed Tuesday inside the Memphis Veterans Medical Center.
As he was washing his hands, the robber hit and punched him from behind and tried to drag him into one of the stalls.
“He kept telling me if I go to the stall, he wouldn’t hurt me,” he said. “No way I was going into that stall.”
An Army infantryman stationed in the South Pacific in World War II and a welterweight amateur boxer from Memphis, he fought back and landed a few shots.
“I think I got him good — I don’t like being called a victim,” he told The Commercial Appeal on Thursday.
But Younger was overpowered by the mugger and he started calling for help when the mugger began to choke him.
“He hit me twice; he was a pretty big guy,” Younger said. “He pulled me to the ground and hit me again and staggered me. I guess I wasn’t in as good a shape as I thought I was.”
Younger said he didn’t know how the mugger got into the hospital because identification is needed to get into the building. Memphis police are investigating.
“I don’t understand — in a hospital, where you’re supposed to be safe,” Younger said at his Dyersburg home.
A message left for the hospital’s spokeswoman wasn’t immediately returned Saturday.
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