A 91-year-old decorated war hero is speaking out after he says he was mugged in broad daylight and in front of several witnesses in Redwood City.
Roger Frey was awarded the bronze medal for his bravery—a trait that came back to life as he tried to stop a man he said robbed and then, attacked him at a Redwood City SamTrans bus station.
"Nobody intervened. I knew it was my fight," he said.
Last Sunday afternoon, Frey said he was headed home from Best Buy where he took his new laptop for an update.
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His old laptop was recently stolen from his home. He said that a man on a bike snatched his laptop from the back of his wheelchair as he waited for a bus.
“And I said 'Hey, give it back to me,’ and I went after him,” Frey told NBC Bay Area.
Frey added that he held on to the man’s bike as others called police, but that's when he got thrown to the ground.
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The suspect took off and Frey was left injured with no laptop, which is what helps him communicate with his friends and family.
“I understand in the climate that we live in that people are afraid. They don't know if the person had a gun or a knife. But when Roger said nobody came to his aid until the person left, it just really angered me,” said Randy Reynolds, Frey’s friend.
SamTrans said it’s investigating the incident. But so far, there’s been no arrest and there were no cameras to catch the crime.
It's a situation that upsets Frey as he believes bus stations should have cameras and security.
"If they were there, they could have stopped it," he said.
