3 men pin Arby’s robbery suspect

By Ed Runyan

One man came inside from the Arby’s drive-through lane to help two other men.

WARREN — Jackie Peterson of Warren was at home with a bruised and swollen face Wednesday, the result of getting sucker-punched by a 220-pound Bazetta Township man who tried to rob her while she was working Monday night at the West Market Street Arby’s restaurant.

If there’s a consolation to her misery, however, it’s that her scream drew the attention of several people, including a co-worker and two customers, who pounced on her attacker and held him down until police arrived to arrest him.

Peterson, 30, talking by telephone with obvious difficulty, said Wednesday she thanks the three men who came to her aid.

“I hope if anyone else is in that situation that somebody will be there to help them, too,” she said.

Robert E. Cherry, 34, of Larry Lane, pleaded innocent Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court to robbery, a second-degree felony punishable by up to eight years in prison. Bond was set at $75,000, and a preliminary hearing was set for 10:15 a.m. Feb. 6 before Judge Terry Ivanchak.

Peterson said she was treated at a local hospital for her injuries. There were no broken bones, she said.

Police said Cherry entered the restaurant around 8 p.m., purchased a cup of water from a male employee, then asked Peterson to make change.

When she opened the cash register, the robber punched Peterson in the mouth and reached into the cash register for money.

Peterson reacted quickly, closing the register drawer on his hand, police said.

Moments later, a 27-year-old co-worker jumped over the counter after Cherry, police said. A customer, Steve Zahniser, 30, joined him, as the co-worker put Cherry in a headlock on the floor.

Meanwhile, Thomas Stroud, a security guard at the General Motors assembly plant in Lordstown, was waiting for food in the drive-through lane. He heard Peterson scream and then saw the co-worker jump over the counter.

Stroud could tell something was going on inside the restaurant because people were ducking and moving quickly around the restaurant.

He then saw two fairly small men wrestling with Cherry and decided his help was needed.

“He was moving around so much with his legs, I think he could have gotten away,” Stroud said. Just as bad, Stroud thought there was a chance the robber had a weapon and might use it on the two other men.

“I was afraid he might hurt them,” Stroud said.

“It was just a natural instinct,” Stroud said of parking his car and going inside the restaurant to help.

Stroud, who weighs 340 pounds, noticed that the two smaller men had control of Cherry’s upper body, but Cherry was on his side, and his legs were still swinging wildly.

“I put my knee in him,” Stroud said. “I’m a big dude.”

That put Cherry the rest of the way on the floor, stomach down.

“It was over after that. We had his whole body locked,” Stroud said.

For about four minutes, Stroud held his knee on Cherry’s backside as the three men waited for Warren police to arrive.

At one point, Cherry begged the co-worker to loosen his grip on Cherry’s neck, but Stroud advised against it.

“If you punch a woman in the face, you deserve whatever you get,” Stroud said, adding that Peterson had blood in her mouth from the punch. “He hit her square on.”

Stroud said he suspects the robber thought Peterson would be so stunned by getting punched in the face, she would fall back so he could take the cash.

“Little did he know she would still be able to close the drawer,” Stroud said.

runyan@vindy.com