Army veteran in wheelchair fights off knife-wielding robbers
AN AFGHAN veteran successfully tackled knife-wielding thugs who attempted to rob him while he was out training for a wheelchair marathon.
On Sunday evening, two men approached Roger Mercer, 38, on a canal towpath and demanded his mobile phone.
However, Mr Mercer, who is 6ft 7in, managed to grab the eight-inch curved blade out one of the men’s hands before knocking him to the ground with a single blow. He then rammed his thumb into the eye socket of the other as he attempted to grab the wheelchair from behind and get him in a headlock.
The men then pushed Mr Mercer over before fleeing empty-handed from the scene in Blacon, Chester.
Mr Mercer served with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment for almost 11 years until he suffered a serious spinal injury while serving in Afghanistan in 2007.
He said: “I saw someone ahead of me and I stopped dead. This one lad had a hoody, which was pulled tight around his face, and he was holding a curved blade, between six and eight inches long.
“I was able to get the blade out of his hand straight away and it got thrown to the side. I also sent him flying.
“He was there going ‘what the hell?’ He probably wasn’t expecting a wheelchair user to fight back.” Mr Mercer said he had self-defence training in the Army and had spent two years in Northern Ireland as well as Bosnia, so was “used to the rough stuff ”.
“I regularly take part in marathons in my wheelchair for charity and train three to four times a week,” he added.
“I had just done five miles and had my head down when the men appeared in front of me. But this hasn’t put me off training and it’s not going to stop me.”
Detective Constable Tom Philpotts, of Cheshire Police, said: “This was an opportunistic robbery by thieves who thought they could prey on a defenceless disabled man in order to steal his phone. In this case the victim was extremely brave and lucky to be able to fight off his attackers, preventing them from causing him serious harm or taking his phone.
“However, others may not be able to protect themselves and therefore we urge anyone who may know these two men to come forward and call 101.”