Grandma: ''If people don't fight back, it's gonna continue''

June 22, 2004
Toledo Blade

Rita Dipman had seen enough, heard enough. When it started to happen to her on Sunday, she was ready.
"If people don't fight back, it's gonna continue," she said.

On Sunday afternoon, Ms. Dipman, 52, was eating at the Subway sandwich store on Main Street in East Toledo with her 3-year-old granddaughter when a man robbed the store.

Seeing the commotion, Ms. Dipman scooped up her granddaughter and fled, but the fleeing robber caught up with them, brandished a knife, and then tried to grab Ms. Dipman's purse.

He might have picked on the wrong grandmother.

"He yanked and I yanked back," Ms. Dipman said. "I wasn't gonna let this guy get the better of me. I was gonna protect my granddaughter, and I wasn't gonna let him hurt me."

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Ms. Dipman's granddaughter screamed, and the man fled without getting the purse.

"I was trying to save her life, and I think by her screaming she might have saved both of us," she said.

The daylight crime shocked Mayor Jack Ford and prompted him to announce a $3,000 reward yesterday for information related to the crime.

"This one really ticked me off, really," the mayor said.

Mayor Ford has asked police to look through mugshots, yearbooks, records, and other sources to help Ms. Dipman and other witnesses determine the robber's identity.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said uniformed officers and detectives have canvassed the area the last two days. They are processing evidence, such as prints.

Police said the man entered the store, 648 Main, and asked for a cup of water. The 43-year-old manager charged him for the cup, and when the cash register opened, the robber jumped over the counter and hit her in the mouth, causing her to fall against the wall.

The robber grabbed the register, which fell to the floor, and took some money. Ms. Dipman said she picked up her granddaughter and started to run out the door before the robber assaulted them.

The robber is described as white, in his 20s, about 5-feet, 6-inches tall with a medium build, a buzz haircut, and a tattoo on his neck. He was wearing a white shirt with blue flower design and washed-out blue pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stopper at 419-255-1111.

Commentary:
The City of Toledo has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the state, and it shows in the headlines, and on the obituary pages. Toledo has also been having a HUGE problem with carryout robberies. Many defenseless employees have been victimized, and at least one killed.

So Mayor Ford is "really ticked".

With anti-self-defense policies like Ford's, and with a police chief like Mike Navarre, Ford's words don't count for much.

Here Navarre's opinion on self-defense: