Video Shows 9-Year-Old Fighting Off Robber Who Was Attacking Her Mom — Then Chasing Him Down The Block
She's braver than most adults.
West Palm Beach PD It’s never really worth it. Material things like money, wallets, even identifying items are never worth your life. If you get mugged or robbed, just let them take whatever replaceable things they want and protect yourself.
This is the traditional wisdom, and it holds up just fine until someone else’s life or safety is on the line.
And for one child, when her mom's safety was in jeporady, it was time to step up. In the recently released security footage, 9-year-old Journee Nelson comes to her mother's rescue during a robbery.
Video shows the 9-year-old attacking a robber that was trying to take her mom’s purse.
Nelson’s mother, Danielle Mobley, was attacked by Demetrius Jackson on their way back to their car after shopping.
While she was loading groceries into her car, Jackson knocked Danielle Mobley to the ground where the two began to struggle over her purse.
Reportedly, Jackson threatened to shoot Mobley during the struggle, saying “you're going to make me pop you.”
While Mobley was fighting for her life, her unlikely hero flew in and started landing strike after strike on Jackson.
Journee Nelson came to the rescue.
As Mobley and Journee continued to struggle with the grown man, other bystanders begin to approach and it looked like the crowd might intervene.
It starts to become difficult to see the action at this point in the video, but the 9-year-old’s attack was enough to make Jackson decide that the purse wasn’t worth it and he turned to run away.
So that’s it, right? Saved mom, saved the purse, robber thwarted, mission accomplished, right?
Well maybe that would be the case for the rest of us, but Journee wasn’t done with Jackson yet. Mobley describes a surreal scene after the attack, saying, “... and the video didn’t show it but she actually jumped up and chased him like four houses down the block.”
Finally, Journee ceased her pursuit at the behest of her mother and Jackson fled the scene.
Mobley also said of the moment, “That is when I let it go and figured he would take off. I wasn’t expecting her to take off after him.”
Thankfully, Jackson was apprehended two days later by West Palm Beach Police.
Journee is being rewarded and praised.
Journee Nelson is, rightfully, being hailed as a hero following her courageous rescue.
Frank Adderley, Police Chief of West Palm Beach remarked that “I wouldn’t recommend that you confront an individual like that but in the heat of the moment things happen… I bet he was shocked when she hit him right in the face because he definitely could tell on the video that he was not expecting that, and her actions were perfect timing in this particular situation.”
West Palm Beach police honored Journee’s bravery with a certificate, a medal and a Target gift card.
Demetrius Jackson, for his part, has been arrested and is being charged with robbery and battery.
While it isn’t worthwhile to risk injury or worse for the sake of replaceable material things, that just isn’t how the situation was for 9-year-old Journee Nelson.
When asked after the fact why she intervened, Journee simply said, “I fought back. I had to save my mom.”
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.