AverageBro: What Would You Do?: The CrimeStopping, BowTied Mayor.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

What Would You Do?: The CrimeStopping, BowTied Mayor.

Many editions of What Would You Do? involve a question of whether or not you should butt into other folks' bidness, and this one is no different. Recently, ex-DC mayor Anthony Williams singlehandedly thwarted a downtown theft. This wouldn't otherwise be notable if Williams didn't act and sound like a grownup Steve Urkel. But anyways...

Tony Williams was on K Street yesterday afternoon when a thief grabbed a package from a UPS hand truck. The deliveryman, standing a few yards away, looked up and yelled, "Hey!" but the man kept walking.

Enter the former mayor, who asked the delivery guy if he was being robbed. "I said to myself, 'Do I just stand here? No, this can't happen,' " Williams told us. "And I just started running."

The ex-mayor, 57, was "extremely decisive," said eyewitness Lisa Gough, director of communications for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Gough was walking back to the office when she witnessed the theft and saw Williams spring into action. "While the rest of us were standing around trying to figure out what was going on, he acted. He was definitely in hot pursuit."

Williams sprinted down K Street shouting, "Stop! Stop! You can't do that!" With the deliveryman right behind him, he caught up to the culprit -- who looked at the bow tie and stopped dead in his tracks.

"You used to be the mayor," said the surprised thief, who simply handed over the box of computer parts.

The man walked away; Williams said he started after him while looking for a police car but decided not to restrain him. The man slipped into the crowd as passersby asked Williams what had happened. "I'm just fighting crime in the city," he told them.

Again, unless you lived in/near DC during The Post-Barry Years, the unintentional comedy of Anthony Williams chasing down a crook is probably going to miss you. Here's ole' Tony in action for context.

Man, that guy was just hilarious. I suppose having a straight Lamar Latrelle as your mayor beats having a crackhead in charge, but only by so much. Still, I have to ask...

Question: What would YOU do? Would you have chased down the guy who stole the UPS package or just said "eff it" and kept on your merry way?

Who Was That Bow-Tied Superhero? [WashPost]

Tony Williams was on K Street yesterday afternoon when a thief grabbed a package from a UPS hand truck. The deliveryman, standing a few yards away, looked up and yelled, "Hey!" but the man kept walking.

Enter the former mayor, who asked the delivery guy if he was being robbed. "I said to myself, 'Do I just stand here? No, this can't happen,' " Williams told us. "And I just started running."

The ex-mayor, 57, was "extremely decisive," said eyewitness Lisa Gough, director of communications for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Gough was walking back to the office when she witnessed the theft and saw Williams spring into action. "While the rest of us were standing around trying to figure out what was going on, he acted. He was definitely in hot pursuit."

Williams sprinted down K Street shouting, "Stop! Stop! You can't do that!" With the deliveryman right behind him, he caught up to the culprit -- who looked at the bow tie and stopped dead in his tracks.

"You used to be the mayor," said the surprised thief, who simply handed over the box of computer parts.

The man walked away; Williams said he started after him while looking for a police car but decided not to restrain him. The man slipped into the crowd as passersby asked Williams what had happened. "I'm just fighting crime in the city," he told them.