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Crime & Safety

Store Clerk Drives Robber Batty

A convenience store clerk stopped an armed robbery by fighting the assailant off with a baseball bat.

A baseball bat-wielding store clerk fought off an armed robber early Friday in Tinley Park, police said.

Police said a man armed with a knife entered a convenience store at 6800 W. 183rd St. about 3:30 a.m. and ordered the clerk from behind the counter.

The clerk grabbed a bat from behind the counter and knocked the knife from the man's hand, police said. He then ran out of the store, police said.

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“He hit the offender in the hand with the bat and the knife fell to the floor,” Tinley Park Police Cmdr. Steve Vaccaro said.

Police arriving on the scene saw a man running a couple of blocks away and pursued and arrested him.

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Heber Garcia, 23, of Orland Park, was charged with attempted armed robbery, police said.

He was due in bond court in Bridgeview on Friday afternoon.

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