I’ve never broken into someone else’s home (just my own when I got locked out of my house), so, I haven’t had the distinct experience that a guy in New Mexico recently experienced.
To make matters all the more unusual, though, the person whose home was broken into was a man who, it appears, is wheelchair bound.
In spite of the wheelchair, the home invader got the (unpleasant) surprise of his life. Dave Urbanski gives us the details:
Suddenly, Salas barged into the unit — and encountered wheelchair-bound Anthony Nichogi, who was in the residence with his young son, the station said.
Urbanski continues:
“I was in fear for my life and my son,” Nichogi told the station, adding that Salas “reached for me, and I told him, ‘Please don’t touch me. Please get out of my house.'”
Again, from Urbanski:
“I turned my chair around, and as I went into the bedroom to go unlock [the mace] and retrieve it, he followed me into the bedroom,” Nichogi explained to the station.
With that, Nichogi opted for a more powerful means of self-defense. He instead grabbed his gun, KRQE said.
And that wasn’t all.
Describing what happened next as a rush of adrenaline, Nichogi told the station he performed a rare physical feat: He got up from his wheelchair and commanded Salas to leave.
Indeed, video shows a clearly unnerved Salas putting up his hands and retreating to the front door as Nichogi points a gun at him and walks after him, even following Salas out of the apartment.
Imagine if you were a petty criminal who broke into a wheelchair bound man’s home. How would you respond if you found that the person that you expected to be weak and helpless turns out to be more dangerous than you are.
Potentially a very humbling experience.
Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like anyone was injured in this situation, and that’s the best outcome that one can hope for from this terrible type of situation.
