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Tuesday, May 05, 2009 3:00 AM Pizza delivery man fights robber Man fought off and detained would-be robber By Gina Childress | Times Staff Writer A man who attacked a 24-year-old pizza delivery man got a little more than he bargained for when the victim, a former Marine, fought back and detained the alleged robber until police arrived. The robbery and attack took place April 24, but information was not released until this week. Eric Devon Hooker, 24, of Lucama, who works for a local pizza delivery service, said he made a delivery to the Deluxe Inn at 2617 U.S. 301, around 8:20 p.m. when he was grabbed from behind by 21-year-old Antonio Lamont May. Hooker said he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder and then heard May demanding money. "He was yelling at me, and I was yelling back," Hooker said. "I pushed him off me and then grabbed the hand with the knife in it. That's when he switched hands and stabbed me." Hooker not only received a stab wound to his left shoulder that required several staples, he also received a stab wound near his right eye that required five stitches. "I feel lucky he didn't get me in the eye," he said. Hooker said he was dazed for a moment and then realized that May was trying to take his car. "The first thing that I thought about were my kids and how I couldn't believe this guy was doing this," Hooker said. "I was able to get him out of my car, and he ran from me." Hooker decided that May wasn't going to get away with the robbery and assault, so he chased him, while blood was streaming down his face from the stab wound near his right eye. The pair ended up in the parking lot of the BP gas station at the corner of U.S. 301 and Forest Hills Road -- fighting. Hooker said that May realized he was being chased and turned around to "finish me off." "He came at me with the knife, and I tried to disarm him and tried to swing for 'the knockout,'" he said. "Then I went for a wrestling move to get him down on the ground and finally got the knife away from him." Hooker said he got in some good shots, and May ran again. "I chased him down again, and we began to exchange more blows," he said. "I was able to keep him pinned on the ground until help arrived." Hooker said that an off-duty highway patrolman, whose name he did not get, and the clerk at the hotel witnessed the incident and called police. Once help arrived, Hooker was transported to Wilson Medical Center and flown by Life Flight to Pitt Memorial Hospital for treatment of his stab wounds. He was released later that same night. May was arrested and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and felonious robbery with a dangerous weapon. As of Monday afternoon, he was still in the Wilson County Jail under a $100,000 bond. May's previous convictions include felonious breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny, felony common law robbery, misdemeanor communicating threats, felony possession of stolen goods, felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, felonious attempted cheating of property or services, felonious attempted larceny of a motor vehicle, misdemeanor driving while impaired misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor unathorized use of a conveyance, misdemeanor reckless driving, three counts of misdemeanor breaking and entering and misdemeanor resisting a public official. Hooker said he does not recommend that people do what he did by chasing down and fighting with May, and police agree. "This was a very dangerous situation for Hooker or for anyone who fights an attacker," said Detective Eric Kearney with the Wilson Police Department. "You never know what other weapons the suspect may have on them. He could have easily had a gun on him as well as the knife." Hooker just feels fortunate that he was able to survive the robbery and that he was not hurt any worse. "I'm just thankful that God saw fit to save my life and that this incident didn't take me away from my family," he said. gina@wilsontimes.com | 265-7821 |
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Chris239Z said...
Im very happy one on my best friends made it through this. We are all proud of him. I do must say tho, PLZ don't everyone attempt to do the same. I have lived in Wilson/Lucama since 1991 and the court system here does need a bit of work. As for the comment by "Wondering", If this had happend to me, Wilson Medical Center is the LAST hospital I would want to be at. Wilson is center between Wake and Pitt, take a pick...
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 12:56 AM
mz.cortez said...Im very happy one on my best friends made it through this. We are all proud of him. I do must say tho, PLZ don't everyone attempt to do the same. I have lived in Wilson/Lucama since 1991 and the court system here does need a bit of work. As for the comment by "Wondering", If this had happend to me, Wilson Medical Center is the LAST hospital I would want to be at. Wilson is center between Wake and Pitt, take a pick...
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 12:56 AM
ey all of dis happen at muah work, i had to clean all of the blood the next day
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM
sorry wideawake eric the pizza man is black also...so what are you talking about?
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 1:28 AM
I am fairly sure eric devon hooker is a black person, so why would all the white people suffer? Even if eric is white, this ex con stabbed him, took his money, and tried to steal his car, he deserved a good beat down. It's bad when a convict, fresh from prison, robs a guy and people think he is the victim. America needs to step up the death penalty. this guy's rap sheet takes up a large paragraph. Now we have to pay to keep this guy in jail and millions others just like him. There is definitely something wrong with the legal system.
Friday, May 08, 2009 at 12:24 AM
Wow. Dan is absolutely right. If everybody remains passive about their self defense, then we will always be considered as victims and "easy money". Alternatively, I understand why we are advised to comply. I'm really grateful I was capable of defending myself, but not everyone can do that, and I was one inch in either direction from suffering from lethal or debilitating injury, so I'm still saying that responsibility falls on our police and courts to protect us, and someone needs to step it up. I'm not under the illusion that they can make crime disappear, but with the appropriate changes, I'm certain things in Wilson County can do a complete 180. I gotta say, I'm pretty dissapointed that someone would try to make this a race issue, also. C4L is definitely right. I'm hoping everything that happened to me will alert someone that whatever is being done in the court is not having an effective outcome on the city. Regardless if your black or white, there's nothing awesome about getting stabbed by a random lowlife. So please lets unify on whats relevant here. Love you guys too Lee and Amanda.
Thursday, May 07, 2009 at 1:48 PM
