23 year old Indianapolis man saves Subway employee from attacker

[~Elizabeth~]

A man was yelling, throwing stuff, and spitting at a female Subway employee. A 23 year welder named Gabriel Pitzulo with mixed martial arts training walks in on his lunch break, tackles, holds him down on the ground, and tells people to lock the doors and call the police. It took 5-6 police officers to restrain the attacker.

Not only was he a high school wrestler but he played high school football and knows Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

A Good Samaritan intervened and tackled a brazen attacker who had allegedly battered and spat at an employee at an Indiana Subway restaurant.

Gabriel Pitzulo, 23, managed to keep the alleged assailant pinned on the ground for eight minutes until law enforcement authorities were called to the Subway store in Indianapolis.

The incredible moment was captured on the store's surveillance camera, showing the brave former high school wrestler charging at the attacker and successfully taking him down.

The belligerent customer, later identified as Daniel Saunders, 31, was charged with one count of battery resulting in bodily injury, as reported by WFSB.

The Subway store manager decided to grant Pitzulo free sandwiches for life as a token of appreciation for his heroic action on March 22.

Pitzulo was walking into the sandwich shop on his lunch break last month when he heard someone in the store shouting loudly, he told Fox & Friends First.

He said: 'It was just another normal day at work, I was going to where I go all the time. As I walk in, it was pretty hectic. People yelling, it was kind of loud.'

The former high school wrestler and football player said he saw Saunders allegedly throwing something at a female employee behind the counter.

The brazen attacker then allegedly spat at the employee as a crowd of customers watched.

'I had heard it from outside. I walked in, and he was visibly assaulting, throwing stuff. I believe I saw him spit at her, and how I was raised, you don't do that stuff. It was kind of go time from there,' Pitzulo said.

Pitzulo, who now works as a welder, quickly tackled the alleged assailant and pinned him on the floor, as shown in surveillance footage.

The 23-year-old said he wanted to stop the attacker from hurting the female employee.

'She didn't seem like she could defend herself in any such way. … She had said that he had threatened to kill her. I did combat sports for quite a while, so I was completely controlling.

'I didn't want to punch him or anything. I didn't want to hurt him too bad. So, I just held him,' Pitzulo said.

'It wasn't cool,' he said, adding that there were 'some words back and forth' between him and the suspect while others called police.

'The cops got there. I helped him put the cuffs on, and they thanked me and told me what I did was very brave,' he said.

The video of Pitzulo's heroic intervention has circulated on social media, and the young man expressed his hope that it will inspire others to step up when innocent people are being targeted.

'I haven't really been turning down interviews because I do want to get this out there for the young men.

'There's a lot of talk nowadays of toxic masculinity, and I'm really trying to, you know, push this narrative that you should stand up for the people, innocent people, people in your local neighborhood. That's kind of what I take from it.'

'I advise anybody to stick up for, you know, to do what's right. And to help people around you,' he said.

Saunders was charged with battery injury, battery resulting in bodily injury and disorderly conduct-fighting/tumultuous conduct, according to police records.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Indianapolis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office for further information.

Aarij Kham, the Indianapolis district manager of Subway, expressed gratitude to Pitzulo for his courageous actions and recounted what had happened in a statement.

He said Saunders had been in the restaurant for all week, using bathroom and asking for free food.

'The man in the video was there all week and we let him use the bathroom, gave him free food, made sure he was taken care of as we always do.'

'When he came in I was at another store but he asked for more free food and my employee said no at the time because he was drunk.

'He had three to four bottles of Hennessey on him that I later disposed of after the cops arrived. He got aggravated when she told him to leave and he threw stuff at her and did assault her – they were able to take photos of the mark on her face.

'Gabriel was the only one who walked in and he stepped into action and did what anyone should do. Gabriel was on him for seven to eight minutes and once the cops showed up, it took four to five cops to restrain him.

'I told Gabriel that as long as I'm working here he can get free Subway from me or my manager,' Kham said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...na-Subway.html

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (NewsNation) — A 23-year-old from Indiana was heading into Subway to grab himself a sandwich for lunch. Instead, he found himself tackling a crazed customer.

Gabriel Pitzulo could hear the commotion inside the restaurant before he opened the doors. Once inside, Pitzulo said he witnessed a man attacking a female employee behind the counter.

That’s when Pitzulo’s mixed martial arts training kicked in and he immediately took down the customer. As a former wrestler, he was able to hold him down to the ground until police arrived.

Now, as a thank you, Subway has granted Pitzulo free sandwiches for life.

While Pitzulo does have the training under his belt for situations such as this, he still advises people to step up and help when others are being targeted.

“I advise anybody to stick up for, you know, to do what’s right. And to help people around you,” he said.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/...subway-worker/

A former high school wrestler took matters into his own hands when he witnessed a customer at his local Indianapolis, Ind. Subway restaurant attacking an employee.

Gabriel Pitzulo joined "Fox & Friends First" Thursday to discuss what happened on March 22 when he walked into the sandwich shop on his lunch break.

"It was just another normal day at work, I was going to my local Subway where I go all the time," Pitzulo said. "As I walk in, it was pretty hectic. People yelling, it was kind of loud."

In the incident, which was caught on store surveillance video, Pitzulo said the attacker threw something at the employee and spit on her. That's when he decided to tackle the suspect and hold him to the ground while bystanders locked the door and called police.

"It wasn't cool," Pitzulo said, adding there were "some words back and forth" between him and the suspect for about three minutes until law enforcement arrived.

"The cops got there. I helped him put the cuffs on, and they thanked me and told me what I did was very brave," he said.

Pitzulo, who works as a welder, said while he hadn't considered a career in law enforcement, he has discussed opportunities that could come from stopping the alleged attacker.

"I haven't really been turning down interviews because I do want to get this out there for the young men. There's a lot of talk nowadays of toxic masculinity, and I'm really trying to, you know, push this narrative that you should stand up for the people, innocent people, people in your local neighborhood. And, you know, that's kind of what I take from it," he said.

The suspect, Daniel Saunders, was charged with battery injury, battery resulting in bodily injury and disorderly conduct-fighting/tumultuous conduct, according to police records.

Pitzulo said his family was proud of him, adding that his father was a professional cage fighter.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/former...d-stand-people