A 49-year-old homeless thug named Matthew Roesch attacked a woman in Times Square in New York last week and tried to steal her belongings. The 40-year-old victim resisted the attack. As that was happening, 43-year-old John Rote decided to try to be a good Samaritan. That’s never a good idea in a city run by Democrats these days, because John Rote was the one who was ultimately hunted down and arrested by police for trying to help.
Rote was seen on surveillance video casually pulling out a revolver from his backpack and then shouting, “Get the f–k away from her!” When Roesch ignored Rote and continued trying to rob the woman, Rote fired two warning shots. Roesch then fled the scene.
For rescuing the woman who could have been robbed, raped, or killed without his intervention, Rote has been labeled a “vigilante” by the local media in New York. Rote calmly left the scene, but one of his do-gooder co-workers called in an anonymous tip to the cops the following day. Mr. Rote was arrested at his workplace because of his good deed.
John Rote has no prior criminal history at all—not even a parking ticket. He’s now been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, and menacing.
Big-city liberals are so mentally ill that even the woman who Rote rescued didn’t appreciate the gesture. She told the local media, “I do think he is a hero, but I don’t know, I would likely think him a bigger hero if he tried to help me without the gun.”
Good grief! You just can’t please some people. It’s becoming increasingly clear that it doesn’t pay to be a good Samaritan in any city run by Democrats.
