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Knife-wielding man tries to rob employee closing Buffalo Wild Wings for night. But she isn't about to play victim — and kicks him until he runs away.
Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Buffalo Wild Wings

Knife-wielding man tries to rob employee closing Buffalo Wild Wings for night. But she isn't about to play victim — and kicks him until he runs away.

Now the suspect is behind bars

A Michigan man most definitely chose the wrong Buffalo Wild Wings employee to allegedly rob at knifepoint — and now he's paying the price.

What happened?

A female employee was preparing to close the Kochville Township restaurant just after 1 a.m. Monday, Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel told MLive.

"Toward the end of the night, she went to move her car so it would be closer to the door," the sheriff told the outlet, adding that after she exited her vehicle "out of the shadows comes this guy."

The man — who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a covering over his face — asked the woman what time it was, and she told him about 1 a.m., Federspiel told MLive.

"That's when he pulled out this knife and told her to give him her purse," he added to the outlet. "He said, 'Give me your purse' and called her a name, the B-word."

'Fight or flight'

With that, the sheriff told MLive the employee "went into flight or fight mode."

After she tried getting back into her car and he lunged at and blocked her, Federspiel told the outlet the victim began kicking her attacker in his torso and legs, after which the man took off running.

She called 911, MLive said, and a sheriff's sergeant in the area found the suspect behind a nearby former Toys R Us store and arrested him.

Police also recovered a folding knife from Justin V. Sabin, 38, of Sebewaing, the outlet said.

The sheriff told MLive the woman wasn't injured.

What happened to the suspect?

Sabin on Tuesday was arraigned on one count of assault with intent to rob while armed, the outlet said, adding that the crime is punishable by up to life in prison.

The judge set Sabin's bond at $50,000 cash-surety, MLive said.

Sabin on Wednesday afternoon was listed as an inmate in Saginaw County Jail. He's scheduled for his next court appearance on March 13.

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