NYC EMS

He was lucky to have NYC FDNY EMT's save his ass

A would-be robber remains hospitalized after a bodega owner fought him off with a machete in Woodhaven, Queens, Wednesday night.

It was hand-to-hand combat in an all-out, bloody brawl. We asked the store owner if he'd do anything differently. He said next time, he'd have two machetes.

"Whether it was to rob or to kill him, but then after he hit him with the machete, the robber said, 'Just call the cops, please just call the cops,'" Johann Marte said through his translator, Queens Assemblyman Jose Peralta.

Hiding his face for now, in case someone seeks revenge, the bodega owner justified reducing the robber to a bloody mess last night."He pulled his gun, I pulled my machete and we went to war," Marte said.

Marte, a father of four, said the alleged criminal walked in his Woodhaven corner store with guns blazing, then wound up begging him to call the police.
"He was aiming for the gun," Peralta said. "As soon as he saw the gun, he was aiming for the gun, and that's all he was aiming for. He started swinging away at the gun, and it was lucky for him he ended up hitting the hand.Marte's machete slashed the gun-toting bandit's trigger finger off, along with part of his ear, in a battle witnesses believe the suspect deserved.

"He had to protect himself," one said. "You do what you can."

Local legislators warn store owners not to fight violence with violence. They're pushing for bodega safety measures, like panic buttons, connected to local precincts.

"He was very lucky to endure what he did, but we want to teach bodega owners not to do what he did," Peralta said. "Because unfortunately, nine times out of 10, they will end up dead."

Still, an eye-for-an-eye, says Marte, who was fired at four times before his machete beat the bullets."I came here to work, to work hard, and I work hard everyday," Marte said through Peralta. "And I had to defend myself, and that's what I did.

The store has been robbed three times in the past, and it seems the Queens district attorney will treat this as self-defense and not charge Marte with anything. The robber-turned-victim is still recovering. He faces a number of charges.He was lucky to have NYC FDNY EMT's save his ass