A Good Samaritan valiantly defended an elderly flower vendor who was being attacked in Los Angeles, FOX11 reported Monday.
The incident, which was caught on camera, occurred in August when 63-year-old Juan Diaz, who was attacked and stabbed six times in a separate incident in 2023, was assaulted and robbed by a much larger assailant, according to FOX11.
Footage shows Diaz taking a beating from the man before Gerardo Plascencia enters the picture, putting the attacker in a headlock and landing numerous blows and knocking the man to the ground. (RELATED: Video Shows Good Samaritan Land Wicked Cross Body Block On Criminal Fleeing Police)
A good Samaritan came to the aid of a flower vendor who was being attacked. https://t.co/hE2nG7bfOX
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) September 17, 2024
“It was an impulse,” the recently arrived immigrant from Cuba told FOX11 through an interpreter. “Truthfully, I don’t know how I did it. I saw no one was doing anything, but later when I reflected, I thought ‘thank God the man wasn’t armed.'”
When Diaz was attacked the prior year at the same spot, nobody stepped in, FOX11 reported.
“I thank the Cuban man a lot,” Diaz said.
“It could have been my dad,” Plascencia told the outlet.
Plascencia told FOX11 that since he arrived in Los Angeles from Cuba in July, he has been robbed, losing all his documents and currently living in a tent while doing odd jobs.
Diaz has been looking for Plascencia since the attack to thank him for standing up to the attacker but wasn’t able to find him until FOX11’s Cristy Fajardo arranged a phone call between the pair.
When Diaz repeatedly thanked the Good Samaritan, Plascencia said he did it from his heart.
Although he has been attacked two times in less than a year, Diaz told FOX11 that he’s been working since he was six years old and he’s back selling flowers on the street because he doesn’t want to sit at home.
Diaz’s family has established a GoFundMe account to help with his medical bills, the outlet reported.
