Pharmacist learns martial arts on YouTube, uses plastic sword to fight off burglars
A Melbourne pharmacist who taught himself martial arts by watching YouTube videos has used a plastic sword to fight off a burglar.
Sam Lee, a 29-year-old pharmacist in Caufield, said he gave the crook a number of whacks with his plastic blade but was only acting in self-defence.
Mr Lee was responding to a security alarm, which went off after two men used a hammer to smash into the Hawthorn Road pharmacy just after 10pm, when an intruder lurched towards him.
“He grabbed my arm,” the pharmacist said.
“My phone was smashed to the ground. My flashlight was smashed to the ground.”
Mr Lee intervened as the pair tried to steal restricted cold and flu medicine, eye drops and soap.
Armed only with a plastic sword, Mr Lee decided his safest option was to run.
But after he fell over, the burglar shaped up with a metal torch.
“As I was on the ground he came towards me with the flash light attempting to bludgeon me with it,” Mr Lee said.
“And that’s when it felt like life and death.”
The crook charged at Mr Lee, who managed to turn the tables.
Mr Lee smacked him with the sword in the head and the thigh, and the crook made a groggy retreat.
“My martial arts background kicked in,” he said.
A second man left the pharmacy with bags full of stolen goods but both were arrested about 400 metres away.
One of them was taken to hospital with head injuries.
However, Mr Lee’s reputation has only received a boost with some nicknaming him Bruce from his martial arts bravery.
“He’s amazing,” the pharmacy’s co-owner Ivan Grauer said.
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“He’s a good guy and I was really worried about him. He got cut a bit.”
Mr Lee said he dabbled in various weapon martial arts in his spare time and used YouTube videos to learn moves.
But despite his newfound fame, Mr Lee said it’s best to run away instead of fighting.
A 20-year-old Mornington man has been charged with theft and burglary.
