Man tackles customer who 'battered and spat at' sandwich shop worker to the floor and gets rewarded for life
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: WRTV
A man has been hailed a hero for stepping in and helping a Subway worker in need.
Gabriel Pitzulo is a frequent customer at his local Subway, but one visit to the sandwich shop last month didn't go as planned.
Gabriel, 23, walked into the store and from the outside saw that a man was 'visibly assaulting' a member of staff behind the till.
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Speaking to a local news outlet about the ordeal that took place on March 22, he said: "[He was] throwing stuff. I believe I saw him sit at her and how I was raised, you don't do that stuff.
"It was kind of go time from there."
CCTV footage shows the moment the man, who has since been named as Daniel Saunders, appear to try and hit the woman behind the till and, as he was about to leave, Gabriel wrestled him to the ground.
Gabriel then managed to hold him down until the police arrived shortly after.
Sharing what made him spring into action, the 23-year-old told WRTV Indianapolis: "She didn't seem like she could defend herself in any such way, and I was afraid that he was maybe leaving to get something to harm her.
"She had said that he had threatened to kill her."
Gabriel went on: "I did combat sports for quite a while, so I was completely controlling. I didn't want to punch him or anything, I didn't want to hurt him too bad, so I just held him [down]."
The young man has since been hailed a hero, with the manger of the Subway store expressing his gratitude that Gabriel was there at the right time.
But the manger didn't just verbally express his thanks to the young man; Gabriel has since been promised free sandwiches for life whenever he comes into the store.
Meanwhile Daniel - the man who Gabriel wrestled to the ground - has since charged with one count of battery resulting in bodily injury and disorderly conduct-fighting/tumultuous conduct, Mail Online reports.
Sadly this isn't the first time a disgruntled customer has physically assaulted a Subway member of staff.
In January, Alberto De Barros visited a Florida-based sandwich shop and, after ending up in a dispute with a staffer, he allegedly threw his sandwich at her.
Police went on to track Alberto down and he was charged with battery.