“Scum of the earth.” That’s what Mohammad Armeli, a Minneapolis restaurant chef, called the thug he saw punch a young child in the face and then run off his with iPad. “Busted” can also be used to describe the thief, who Armeli chased and detained until police arrived.
According to CBS Minnesota, the unidentified child, age 8, had just left a daycare center in the company of his aunt last Thursday afternoon. A surveillance video shows the pair walking down the street, the aunt a few paces ahead, when a man suddenly comes into the video frame, strikes the boy (who falls to the ground) and rushes off with his ill-gotten gains.
Fortunately, this happened outside the Greek restaurant where Armeli works. The cook witnessed the crime and took off in hot pursuit of the perpetrator. “Poor kid,” he later told reporters. “I can’t believe it. The blood was all over his face. Could have broken his nose.” Of the man he captured, he said:
This is the scum of the earth. You cannot hit a child like that. Don’t hit him for his iPad, or for anything.
The perpetrator, now in police custody, has been identified as Aaron Stillday, 32. He was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery. Stillday has a long rap sheet, having been arrested some 60 times before.
Police say that cell phones and other mobile devices are popular targets among street criminals who prey on pedestrains. “These are valuable items that people want,” said Scott Seroka of the Minneapolis Police Department. “And if you don’t have to have them out, maybe you can wait until you’re in a secure environment to use them.”
