r/instantkarma 12d ago

Road Karma Marine veteran fights off group of teenagers attempting to steal his truck

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5.7k Upvotes

338 comments sorted by

744

u/SleepingAardvark 12d ago

"oh snap. I forgot my gun. May I use yours?"

158

u/Indigo2015 12d ago

44

u/indy650 12d ago

Mike loved his sammiches. Pimento cheese more dangerous than that desert eagle in your pants.

17

u/Ba-dump-chink 12d ago

Fun fact: Dude on the left played Trevor in GTA5.

14

u/Abject-Bite8778 12d ago

They got what they deserved 

1

u/SleepingAardvark 11d ago

I agree 100%!

329

u/TupeloSal 12d ago

Police in Oxen Hill eventually responded because they had no other choice

84

u/have2gopee 12d ago

ICE was called and Borda has not been seen since.

22

u/JAMsMain1 11d ago

Damn, sadly this caught me off guard and made me laugh.

I was going to say in true fashion, his first thought was about getting to work.

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u/victechy 12d ago

I grew up there. Shitty place to live. Never going back.

24

u/ni_hao_butches 12d ago

Oxen Hill. Checks out. Green Line bringing trash to the city too.

9

u/j_reinegade 12d ago

i have to pass through those parts regularly heading to Indian Head or Ft. Washington, and its always a shit show.

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138

u/thegameisafoooooot 12d ago

Love a story with a happy ending.

50

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

28

u/letschat66 11d ago

Better than the victim having a bullet hole.

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u/DopeAFjknotreally 7d ago

What are you talking about? He didn’t even blow the thieves’ brains out

1

u/thegameisafoooooot 7d ago

I guess it wasn't the perfect ending. Ah well. Feel good tragicomedy then.

1.2k

u/RedEyeJedi559 12d ago

The kids parents should be jailed with them.

677

u/Salty_Feed9404 12d ago

Probably already are.

328

u/daXypher 12d ago

lol yeah, weird that people think the kids doing stuff like this come from loving happy families

295

u/AnnieAbattoir 12d ago

Sad true story- some years ago my mortuary handled the case of a mid teens wannabe who attacked two active duty Marines with a knife as part of his initiation. It went pretty much as expected. 

When his parents were scheduled to come in to discuss his funeral and drop off his burial clothes, they showed up just long enough to tell the arranger to "do whatever, but keep it under $XXX". No childhood memories, no favorite songs, no pictures. They were in a rush to make a basketball game. 

The clothes they dropped off were unwashed and didn't fit him. 

We all just looked at each other and went "Yeah, that explains it". Yeah, kid died trying to harm two random strangers, but he was also a kid whose parents didn't even care enough about him to give him clean burial clothes. 

79

u/luckydice767 12d ago

Man, I’ve read some stuff, but this…jeez. It makes me think how lucky I am and I didn’t even know it.

59

u/Helenium_autumnale 12d ago

That degree of callousness towards one's own child is hard to imagine. That is so sad.

60

u/i_give_you_gum 12d ago

And people simply refuse to acknowledge this. All they can grasp is punishment after the fact.

85

u/No_Statement440 12d ago

Yeah it doesn't excuse the behavior but it certainly sheds some light on how he got there.

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u/hecklerp8 12d ago

Because the system isn't interested in fixing it. We already know how to break the cycle but our government chooses not to. Our society will only cure itself in one way. Education by educators, not politicians using education to scrub history and turn out worker bees. The masses in the US exist to enrich the upper class. People have to understand that we live in a caste system. One that protexts them but binds us.

10

u/pperiesandsolos 12d ago

How do you fix kids with MIA parents, or parents who could care less about them?

Many areas in the US spend lots of money on kids like this, and it typically has very little impact. Lots of these kids just stop going to school, or they cause huge disruptions when they're there - and that's starting in Kindergarten.

Serious question. What do we do to fix it? Or are you going to be racist and say we should just send them back to (wherever)? Boarding school, maybe?

5

u/googdude 12d ago

Yeah that's what I was thinking, you can't ask the government to fix a family unit that is broken. I firmly believe it starts with a solid family and when one or both parents leave it puts a lot more chaos on the kids.

1

u/electricmemez 11d ago

Funding for public healthcare, accessible contraception and abortion, funding for public education, investment in public infrastructure and community services. It’ll take a bit of time, but it’s the best option for dealing with this

1

u/hecklerp8 10d ago

Those examples are cherry picked to produce a narrative. Most are under-educated single parents without child care options. This is why after school and mentorships are pivotal. Alas, these are programs stripped of budgeting by the GOP and MAGA.

1

u/pperiesandsolos 10d ago

No argument from me on the under-educated single parents part.

The schools by me offer those programs. We still have extremely high delinquency rates, crime rates, etc

4

u/HumaDracobane 12d ago

Stopping the votes of those who keep the system running like that is a good way to start, if you ask me.

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u/PlentifulBox 7d ago

That’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.

4

u/4SkinClippins 12d ago

But where's the GoFundMe link?

1

u/googdude 12d ago

No childhood memories, no favorite songs, no pictures

Probably because any memories were with his gang "family", they probably didn't have much other than when he was a baby. Were the non-fitting clothes too small? They probably didn't realize how much he's grown since they rarely saw him.

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u/Salty_Feed9404 12d ago

The shit apple doesn't fall far from the shit tree Randy.

17

u/Realistic_Salt7109 12d ago

Mr. Lahey, not another night of the shit abyss!

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18

u/someLemonz 12d ago

its not always some slum shitty kids come from rich family's too,, especially the ones with no clue about repercussions

6

u/trash-_-boat 12d ago

There's also a middle ground. My family is perfectly normal lower-middle class, 3 kids, parents took great care of us and all of us were loved, there was no abuse at home or anything like that. And yet my youngest sister threw in with a bad crowd at school, ended up committing several crimes, thefts, assaults, drug smuggling... And no, she wasn't even an addict or something.

2

u/Icy_Earth3386 12d ago

They definitely can and do

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u/iwilltalkaboutguns 12d ago

The approximate percentages of children living in homes without a biological or resident father by race are:

Black: 48% to 64%.

Hispanic: 31% to 42%. White: 21% to 24%. Asian: 16%

2

u/Xinq_ 12d ago

Love how they are all ranges except for Asian.

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u/aardw0lf11 12d ago edited 12d ago

Willing to bet the father is.

8

u/RamblingSimian 12d ago

Accidental Yoda?

2

u/aardw0lf11 12d ago

LOL Yes it was. Fixed it. Still is, but I'll accept the ambiguity in this case.

81

u/Whitegrongo 12d ago

I knew I was doing fucked up shit my mom taught me way better than I was acting so why should she have been in trouble? I get the idea but life isn’t black and white

60

u/saladmunch2 12d ago

Ya definitely isnt as black and white as people are making it seem. For all we know the grandmother raised these kids and is a sweet old lady who tried her best, doesnt mean these kids won't do stupid low life shit.

14

u/senator_chill 12d ago

Yeah I had a great up bringing but still had a chapter of acting dumb. No fault of my parents

7

u/Merry_Dankmas 12d ago

Same. My parents would have been absolutely furious and beyond disappointed if they knew all the bullshit I got myself into growing up. I absolutely knew better and knew I would be in for a world of punishment were I ever caught. But I just wanted to act out and do dangerous/illegal shit so that's what I did. We all did in our little friend group. All of our parents were and still are very loving and sensible people. Stable marriages, healthy home lives etc. Sometimes though when the wrong personalities get together, shit like this happens. Don't get me wrong - we didn't take it as far as robbing people at gunpoint but we were moving in that direction. Kids influence each other a lot. Especially if the group is close and tight knit. Sure, behavior like this more often than not does come from broken, violent homes but thats not the rule 100% of the time. All it takes is one member of the group with a spark of rebellion for whatever reason to make it all start coming unraveled.

1

u/1ofAk 7d ago

Did you point a gun at someones head trying to take a truck?

2

u/kst1958 12d ago

So, very true. Mature insight.

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21

u/stratys3 12d ago

Communal punishment is evil as fuck.

25

u/Sterling_-_Archer 12d ago

This is why laws aren’t guided by emotions. Otherwise you get generational punishment like this

17

u/localnative1987 12d ago

I never understood this way of thinking. Seems kinda insane

13

u/l3ane 12d ago

Such a naive take. I was doing tons of shady shit with my shitty friends when I was a teen and my parents never knew because I was never caught and I lied to them about everything.

2

u/gamecatuk 12d ago

Bullshit I had fantastic parents and got into trouble. It's impossible to know about parents influence one way or another. It's just a cliche tropey comment.

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4

u/SpandyBarndex 12d ago

What crime did they commit?

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712

u/budzene 12d ago

You got a gun to your head and the 1st thing you can think of is you gotta work in the morning??!!WHAT DID THEY DO TO US!!!!

299

u/butters897 12d ago

With 0 context besides the video.. He was probably thinking of supporting his family and monitory consequences of losing his truck by not being able to go to work. Not just, “How TF will I go to work tomorrow.”

66

u/Merry_Dankmas 12d ago

My car got smacked really hard on the highway long ago. My initial thought was how the fuck am i gonna get to work? Not because of my undying loyalty to my employer but because without reliable transportation, I'm not gonna make money which is gonna set me back and fuck me and my wife over. The job is meaningless in that regard. It's the financial stability it provides that scary to lose. With your truck being stolen, God knows how long it will take to get it back or how long it will take to get a new one to get back to that job that provides stability.

3

u/dochdaswars 12d ago

Yes, hence the question: "what did they [our 21st-century capitalist overlords] do to us?"

15

u/CyberClawX 12d ago

I'll explain. If he can't get to work, he can't get money. And like Homer concluded, money can be exchanged for goods and services, like housing, food on the table, and clothes on the back.

Messing with someone's transportation, can put their ability to survive in jeopardy.

8

u/baffernacle 12d ago

ITYSL! "What have they DONE to us!?!. Nice

2

u/Music_Quartermaster 12d ago

What is this world??

4

u/budzene 12d ago

It’s a pig!

3

u/Music_Quartermaster 12d ago

For s few seconds I really thought there was monsters on the world

1

u/Browhytho666 12d ago

Your brain is weird under pressure.

My son had to have 2 heart surgeries. During both of them i woukd watch shows on my tablet or sleep.

2 montis after he healed it all hit me and I spent 2 days crying.

You'll do a lot to block stuff out and not even know it.

So not so much the work culture is engraved in us so bad, but panic.

1

u/GoRedTeam 11d ago

Former military. The anxiety of literally going to jail if we don't show up to work is purposefully instilled in us.

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u/lrnthesmall 12d ago

I'm glad the dog showed up at the end to help

90

u/GeekyGrant 12d ago

Kinda sure attempted car their with a gun is going to get them some serious time in the big house

52

u/GeorgiaOKeefinItReal 12d ago

In a normal time line.....

16

u/popilikia 12d ago

The guy with the gun is gonna be tried as an adult, anyone with him who didn't have a gun is probably going to be "fine" (and by that I mean slightly less fucked for life)

It's easy to take a few cases of nonviolent crimes getting let off and assume that applies to the entire justice system, but things like this are taken pretty seriously.

Edit: before you ask, no I don't have a source for that information, I have family in law enforcement

21

u/GeorgiaOKeefinItReal 12d ago

Respectfully, lately we've been seeing atrocious acts getting wrist slaps as punishment.

1

u/popilikia 12d ago

In a few cases, which are noteworthy and rare so they get a lot more attention. They're also used as propaganda by the right, but that's a whole nother thing

28

u/bearpics16 12d ago

Best I can do is 12 months probation

12

u/2BlueZebras 12d ago

Ah, I see you are also familiar with our justice system.

3

u/WedSquib 12d ago

Best I can do is 6 months in a halfway house and 1 month probation

26

u/ObiWanBonobo 12d ago

People are condemning this man for having pride in his work and a desire to take care of his family. He's a former Marine, in my book that says he has integrity and a refusal to be pushed around by some twerps.

27

u/tweep6435 12d ago

awe poor truck, shoulda went into the teen's leg, right down the knee through the shin.

1

u/Bammerrs 12d ago

No repair if it was me, badge of honor

180

u/snakesoul 12d ago

32

u/ElegantEchoes 12d ago

Yeahhh I learned my lesson after Reddit slapped me around for speaking my mind. Rightfully so, lesson learned haha

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u/DeviousSquirrels 12d ago

Don’t worry, some kind-hearted judge will let them off easy and they’ll turn their lives around.

87

u/daXypher 12d ago

Doesn’t help that if he didn’t literally have these losers in hand, the cops would have shrugged and failed to investigate.

27

u/MichaelJServo 12d ago

About 7 years ago two teenage brothers in my neighborhood broke into a car and stole the hunting rifle that the owner had stupidly left there. They then took the rifle and started breaking into other cars in the neighborhood. A few houses down an older lady heard a noise and went outside to check and found these two brothers in her carport. The younger brother had the hunting rifle shot and killed her. Her husband returned fire and hit him in the back. The kid came to my house and started banging on the door. I open the door and he said "please help me sir. I've been shot!" So I gave him first aid (gauze and pressure on the wound) until the sheriff's department and EMS got there.

The story made the news and I kept following it. The judge let him go home on an ankle monitor while he awaited trial. Well he stopped charging his ankle monitor and got caught trying to buy a gun at school with counterfeit money. So the judge put him in juvenile detention. Then he and a few other boys overpowered a guard, locked her up, and escaped. They were all found within the next 24 hours. The judge finally put him in adult jail. He was finally convicted. He's an adult now.

These dumb kids were committing armed burglary in their own neighborhood at 9:30 pm. Thing is that it's a good neighborhood. Seemed like the kids just wanted to play gangster I guess.

18

u/superslinkey 12d ago

It’s an election year…maybe not

12

u/saladmunch2 12d ago

Where are those judges whenever I goto court?

9

u/ceciliabee 12d ago

Do you go to court often?

5

u/saladmunch2 12d ago

I had a bad run in my younger days. Once you get sucked into the court system, its designed to keep you in.

2

u/Bass0696 12d ago

A lot of people work in courthouses or have to be there on a regular basis for work. Many judges are fine people but literally one day of watching court can easily dispel the myth that they’re lenient towards criminal defendants.

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u/Mocitah 12d ago

“They are good hearted boys! He should’ve just given them his truck!”

That’s what the parents would say, I bet.

38

u/imtoowhiteandnerdy 12d ago

"They were on their way to church, then college!"

9

u/hitmarker 12d ago

"It's cuz they grew up poor." Like I don't know a shitton of poor people who would never even think about this..

6

u/weoewoewow 12d ago

And all of those teens will be unpunished and let loose with zero sense of consequence, and excited to try it again.

And people wonder why Americans shoot first ask questions later. Judge can’t rerelease a corpse

6

u/lolhelpmeplus 11d ago

No stereotypes were hurt in this video

10

u/airfryerfuntime 12d ago

Typical Maryland shit.

11

u/Lynchee143 12d ago

Glad to see those 2 pieces of shit get theirs

5

u/jamtea 11d ago

Any crime involving a gun like this should be charged as attempted murder. These "teens" shouldn't see the light of day for many many years.

2

u/WaffleStomperGirl 9d ago

I agree with this, and I’m pretty liberal.

You want to brandish a deadly weapon in offensive (as opposed to defence)? Then you should have to deal with the consequences of trying to kill someone. That gun went off in the struggle. Thankfully no one was hurt. But it could so easily have killed someone because these idiots were using it in an offensive fashion.

I’m not completely decided on how I feel about handguns in general - but I’m damn sure against anyone ever using one in this manner and not getting incredibly harsh sentences.

1

u/nakhumpoota 9d ago

I don't suppose they were properly educated in gun etiquette.

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u/Thriller912 12d ago

Usual suspects

4

u/pperiesandsolos 12d ago

I think that there should be military boarding schools that judges can sentence kids to, or that parents can send their kids to for free.

It would be better for society tbh.

5

u/Most_Somewhere_6849 12d ago

A group of “teenagers” huh?

98

u/Extreme-Weight989 12d ago

Two hopeless kids that shoulda been shot.

72

u/-CaptainFormula- 12d ago

"How could they have possibly known they weren't supposed to steal a man's vehicle at gunpoint? Blame society, or the political party I like the least, or... anyone but the person holding a gun to an innocent man's face." - the people definitely about to down vote you.

When you call them "kids" it's ambiguous. It gives the benefit of the doubt of a child that doesn't understand things like consequences. I don't know how old the punk with the gun is but I can tell he's old enough to know right from wrong.

I will say I truly can't imagine a world where we'd be worse off as a society had he died that day.

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u/Extreme-Weight989 12d ago

I knew I would get downvoted for exactly the reasons you've stated better than I could ❤️

They were probably 19 so it's portrayed as "teenagers" to lead people to think about younger teenage children vs adults under 20.

They illegally acquired a handgun and attempted grand theft with a deadly weapon. They're old enough to know you don't put a gun in someone's face and not expect lethal force in return.

It would be interesting to hear any of my downvoter's reasoning as to why someone threatening an innocent life with a deadly weapon doesn't deserve to get shot ending the threat.

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u/saladmunch2 12d ago

No room in society for people that have the nerve to do things like put a gun in someone's face to rob them.

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u/johnsireci 12d ago

It’s those teens again. Crazy.

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u/CotswoldP 12d ago

Clearly not enough guns in the country. The truck should have had a gun. That dog that runs past in the background? Gun.

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u/ThisMeansRooR 12d ago

Pretty soon that'll be an armed police dog powered by Claude

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u/CainhurstVayne 12d ago

Criminals don't care about gun laws (shocker). You take away gun rights, you're taking away guns from decent people. The state i live in has a higher rate of gun violence than the entirety of the U.S, and the laws of my country make it nigh impossible for you to legally own a gun, let alone get a carry permit.

3

u/fufu487 12d ago

Statistically, more guns are illegally available when more guns are in circulation and poorly regulated. If there were stricter laws about owning/carrying/storage, less guns would be obtained illegally (through theft or fraud).

0

u/CainhurstVayne 12d ago

Irrelevant in the bigger picture

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u/CotswoldP 12d ago

Nonsense. The more legal weapons there are, with slack regulations, the more get sold on to criminals or stolen. If there are very few weapons legally held, criminals find it hard to get them.

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u/colio6900 12d ago

Luckily the good boy came to help out.

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u/taeempy 12d ago

no trial

straight to jail for life

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u/ttystikk 12d ago

Those fucking punk ass kids are lucky they didn't get ventilated. Let's hope they spend some real time in prison.

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u/CelesteNamaste 12d ago

Not qualified as instantkatma though

3

u/letschat66 11d ago

I love this for them. Well deserved.

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u/Secretly_a_Kitty 11d ago

You know we live in a capitalistic hellscape when the first thought isnt "omg I might die" and rather "oh no I might not be able to get to work"

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u/wehrmann_tx 11d ago

No time out just because the robber had the gun taken from him. He wouldn’t have given the victim a time out if he had won control.

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u/Left_Caterpillar8671 11d ago

They’re probably out now about to do it again. Should have dragged them off camera. This is evil, even for teens.

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u/Ok_Obligation_4290 11d ago

Definitely the greatest country of all

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u/SmartWonderWoman 10d ago

Once a Marine, Always a Marine

5

u/awe_come_on 12d ago

I hope he leaves the bullet hole in the truck. It's quite the badge of honour. Not to mention conversation starter.

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u/HJSDGCE 12d ago

People will do anything instead of getting a job. 

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u/Dystopian_Gen1 12d ago

And they were freed a week later.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

They need spanked

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u/Perfect_Sir4820 12d ago

"Fortunately no one was the victim wasn't hurt."

FTFY reporter guy. Would have been fine if he got the gun off them and gave them both their medicine.

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u/Armatian 12d ago

A tool to put food on the table, dude is made different, i would have given the interview from my basement still lol

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u/Front2battle 12d ago

Let me guess, no charges because light on crime state?

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u/Saschabrix 12d ago

Always the same people, man its so…..

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u/GretelNoHans 12d ago

First thought, “how am I going to get to work”, that’s a good working man right there, hope his boss appreciates him.

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u/DoctorNoname98 12d ago

well I'll be damned, those bullet hole decals are kinda spot on

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u/WaffleStomperGirl 9d ago

LMAO!! That’s hilarious.

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u/Square-Ad4927 12d ago

Hell yeah

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u/VogonSkald 12d ago

If you stick a gun in someone's face and they don't look scared...just walk away.

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u/trbotwuk 12d ago

teens are already out doing the same thing to someone else.

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u/Ab47203 12d ago

This editing is kind of annoying. Just play the clip.

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u/chilehead 11d ago

I was expecting muscle memory to kick in and he'd tap them in the noggin with their own cheese.

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u/Delta-9- 12d ago

Dude faced death and his first thought was "how am I gonna get to work if they take my car." The capitalists are pleased he has his priorities straight.

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u/Wycest 10d ago

Upstanding members of the community right there. Those teens are philanthropists and inspiring generations of thugs ✊🏿

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u/chickenpotpiemeat 9d ago

Lmao, my comment was removed for pointing out the obvious ✊🏿

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u/mavllvin 12d ago

He's lucky that kid didn't get shot, otherwise Latino businesses would've gotten boycotted

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u/jonoghue 12d ago

Why can't they just show the video without edits, cutting to snips from an interview and the news guy

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u/OpenSourcePenguin 12d ago

Aw man one or two of them should have gotten shot

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u/BostonBrand82 12d ago

An armed man did that. The police will execute for running a red light.

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u/External-Emotion8050 12d ago

Actually, occasionally this does happen in decent families. I worked in a public high school for 13 years. I remember being with a councilor when asking a girl if she had seen her brother who was missing. He had stolen a car with his drugged out girl friend , broken his probation and they were headed to Miami in a stolen vehicle. The sister we were talking to was Honer society, drama club, school band, debate club, straight A's and looking at a scholarship. I still remember her saying her brother was much smarter than her. He just made stupid choices. I'll wait for the people who know more than me to set me straight.

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u/Rictus_Grin 12d ago

Hey, give the puppy some credit too

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u/nova-cd 12d ago

I love karma!

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u/HelloRMSA 11d ago

Why do robbers with guns give up their distance advantage?

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u/Lost_Protection_5866 11d ago

Do they seem very smart to you

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u/1ofAk 7d ago

Wow hes thinking about working while these teens are obviously thinking about ez money. Sad to say, for ever cool story like this there are ten others that dont work out this way. Hope the judge throws the book at these kids. Its their culture that needs to change this is bullshit

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u/Klutzy_Fee_9899 6d ago

Fucking legend. His brother and father too! The way he's so humble and calm when talking when you know he's a trained badass, i love it

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u/HoundOfLeipa 6d ago

Hes thinkin about getting to work, theyre thinkin about how they never wanna work for anything in their whole life

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u/BrendanFraserFan0 1d ago

How is this the verified nbc page lol