A construction worker is being praised as a hero after he prevented a mugging attempt in the northeastern Argentine city of Bernal.
CCTV footage displayed the victim, Nicólas, standing near his vehicle when one of three suspects attacked him in broad daylight on Monday.
The assailant punched the swimming instructor in the face, causing him to fall in the center of the street while his accomplices waited on two motorcycles to escape.
Nicólas can be observed kicking at the attacker, who then started to choke him.
While he lay unconscious, the construction worker charged at the mugger and tackled him to the ground as his colleague ran over.
The perpetrator then got to his feet, jumped onto one of the motorcycles, and fled the scene without stealing Nicólas’ belongings.
Nicólas informed Argentine news outlet TN that he was heading to visit his son at a local soccer club when the mugger confronted him as he was taking out a backpack containing money intended for the purchase of a new mobile phone.
‘The individual struck me, and the bricklayers were present; they have been working there for an extended period. We talked, and we know each other,’ Nicólas described.
A mugger confronts Nicólas, a swimming instructor, before a quick-thinking construction worker intervened and tackled him to the ground on Monday in Bernal, a city in northeastern Argentina
The mugger started to choke Nicólas in a failed attempt to seize his backpack
Nicólas lay on the ground unresponsive for a moment before a construction worker he had befriended earlier came to his rescue and tackled the mugger (circled)
The mugger ran toward one of his accomplices (seen on the motorcycles) to escape
‘I yelled at them, and one of them recognized me, which is why he fled,” he remarked.
‘Cesar, the large guy, is a leader. When he recognized it was me, he jumped on one of the criminals.’
Nicólas praised Cesar’s courageous act.
‘It is an area of liberation, and fortunately, I can tell you that I am fine, and no one has to regret an incident that could have been fatal,’ he stated.
‘It was a brave move by the bricklayer who jumped on the criminals to prevent them from beating me. They were kicking me in the head.’