It’s late afternoon as Winston walks into an auto parts store. He doesn’t need any auto parts. What Winston needs is cash, because the job he just got fired from didn’t pay enough to cover his drug habit.

Winston pulls out a snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver and announces, "This is a stickup — gimme all the money in both cash registers."

For a moment, all three of the employees appear frozen in time. They are startled. None of them has ever been robbed before.

An employee named Edgar is not behind the counter, he’s in one of the aisles looking for a replacement muffler for a customer. Now Edgar, holding a muffler assembly in his hands, is hopping mad. Today is payday and this gun-toting clown is getting ready to walk off with all the store’s money.

Quietly, Edgar tiptoes up behind Winston and slams the muffler-pipe down on the gunman’s arm. Winston drops the gun as he yells out in pain. Edgar dives for the loose revolver.

If Gomer Pyle had been there he’d have yelled, "Citizen’s arrest, citizen’s arrest!" But, Winston knows that the firing pin in the gun is broken. Not only that, there are no bullets in the gun. Still, Winston doesn’t want these auto parts guys to grab him, he takes off running.

The employees take off running after the hapless bandit. Edgar picks up the muffler, another employee grabs a tow chain, and the third guys grabs an iron from a bumper jack.

They all catch up with Winston and each gets in at least one good whack before Winston falls down and curls up in the fetal position. Police arrive and Winston is arrested and charged with armed robbery.

Now comes the "only in our legal system" part of this story. After Winston is tried, convicted, and sentenced to hard time, his lawyer is suing the three auto parts guys, claiming they did serious bodily harm to his client when they pursued, beat, and captured him after the fact of the attempted robbery.

I’m sure there are some things we don’t know about this case. Maybe Winston will cry on some inmate’s shoulder when he tells people about what a tough time he had growing up. Didn’t we all.