VIDEO: Crook grabs for cash in register. But store clerk — thinking of her family — isn't having it.

When a crook belly flopped on the counter at a Florida 7-Eleven and grabbed for cash in the register, store clerk Michelle Rideout wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"I'm a mother," she told WTVJ-TV, "so I’m not just gonna let somebody do something stupid like that."

Image source: WTVJ-TV video screenshot

What happened?

Surveillance video from the Hollywood store last Tuesday shows a man wearing a hat handing a bill to Rideout.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

But when she opened the cash register drawer, the man flopped upon the counter and started grabbing for cash.

Rideout, however, instinctively fought back.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"It was like, 'OK, let me just hit him one good time try to back him off,'" she told the station. "It was just reaction."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

But the wife and mother didn't stop after one hit. She's seen grabbing the man's hand to prevent him from taking money, punching and slapping at him — and even throwing one of the cash drawers at his head.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"I just thought of my life," Rideout added to WTVJ.

Soon the crook had enough and walked out the door.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

"I was scared, I ain't gonna lie," she told the station, noting she probably wouldn't react that way over a cash grab if it happened again. "I was scared."

Image source: WTVJ-TV video screenshot

Here's the surveillance video of the incident:



Related heist?

A similar incident occurred less than two miles away July 16 at a Walgreens in Dania Beach, WPLG-TV reported.

Surveillance video showed a man wearing a camouflage, floppy hat picking out a pack of gum and handing money to the cashier, the station said. But when the clerk opened the register, the man reached into the till and grabbed cash, Broward Sheriff's Office deputies told WPLG.