A Winnipeg man has a warning for Liquor Mart customers who want to step in and stop a theft, after doing so netted him a handful of stitches.
Michael, who asked us not to use his last name, said was frustrated watching people run out of the Liquor Mart on Osborne Street with arms and bags full of stolen alcohol.
One day earlier this year, he spotted two girls running out and he said he had to spring into action.
“It’s the impulse, you just can’t explain it. You just see it day in and day out and enough is enough.”
“I went down there and we met in the back and all the bottles broke, the majority of the bottles broke,” he said. “One girl started screaming ‘get him, get him’ and she picked up a bottle that broke and just jammed it right in my hand.”
Michael’s hand was bleeding and he had to get 18 stitches.
The two girls got away.
“It’s not worth it. It’s really not worth it. I suffered for almost a month, a month-and-a-half with my hand. Anything can happen. You just don’t know,” he said.
“They could’ve got me in the wrist, they could’ve got me in the neck, the face.”
Winnipeg police have been warning customers not to step in as there is a safety risk.
Even though Michael was injured he says it hasn’t stopped him from stepping in again.
“I say I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but it has happened since then. I think I’ve stopped it about two or three times. It’s usually a one-on-one.”
Michael’s friend Dan Gordon was there and says he doesn’t think it’s worth it to step in.
“It seems so easy to step in, but it’s such a dangerous thing and you just don’t know what’s going to happen. It makes one worry. You could go off of a bottle of alcohol on just a whim but you could possibly lose your life or your hand. It’s just not worth it.”