Ok, a weird thing just happened to me... Here's the scenario:

I walked over to a local grocery store (Safeway) a few blocks from my house, had a late quick sandwich, and started to walk back home.

I'm about to leave the parking lot, and I hear a woman screaming. I look back, and see a man (maybe early 20s, thin, sweatshirt, African American) running towards me. I'd say he was about 10 seconds away from passing me. Behind him was a store worker who is yelling "stop him, stop him!" Behind her is an overweight female cop.

Now - I have about 10 seconds to make a decision.

* I don't know what this dude did
* I don't know if he's armed

I think about the pluses and minuses - should I tackle him? Should I try to impede his progress? The pluses: 1) feel good for stopping a potential criminal 2) get thanked by the store worker and the cop. The minuses: 1) get hurt (stabbed, shot, punched, etc.) 2) get hurt later (if I stopped him to get him in trouble, he'd remember me)

I let him run right by.

Thoughts?

- Jon

P.S. I caught up to the store owner, who was now getting into a cop car to look for the criminal. She told me that he stole a pair of hair clippers off the counter of the shop.