Brooklyn Clerk Fights Off Robber With Trash Can

NEW YORK (CBS 2/1010 WINS) -- Prosecutors in Brooklyn probably would like to throw the book at a suspect who's already had trash thrown at him.

1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports

Mohammed Esa said the suspect, who was armed with a knife, came into his Park Slope smoke shop pretending to be a customer.

Investigators released surveillance video of the robber pushing Esa behind the counter and grabbing fistfuls of cash from the register.

"A lot of things were going through my head," Esa told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera. "Worried, scared, 'How dare he?'"

Using a trash can filled with shredded paper, Esa pounded the robber as he tried to take money.

"I just started fighting back to protect what's mine," Esa told Rivera. "It was an instant reaction."

Esa believes reaching for the trash can was the best weapon of choice.

"It kept a partition between me and him where he couldn't stab me," Esa said.

The suspect did manage to flee with $20.