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Cops: Senior who stood up to stickup lucky to be alive
Published: February 7, 2007
SALEM - Police say a Pickering Wharf antiques dealer who attacked a would-be robber Monday afternoon was fortunate he wasn't hurt or killed.
"Obviously, he took the law into his own hands," Lt. Conrad Prosniewski said of the clerk, Glenn Steen Johnsen, who refused to go along with the demands of a knife-wielding robber. "But this was a desperate individual, and the outcome could have been very different. We're not recommending others do something like this."
Johnsen, 62, apparently got the better of Steven Donarumo, a 27-year-old Danvers native who had recently been released from prison, where he served part of a 21/2- to three-year prison term for armed robbery.
On Monday afternoon, Salem police were called about two men fighting outside of the Antiques Gallery, an antique cooperative where Johnsen sold furniture.
Johnsen told police Donarumo had entered the store and started a conversation about coins, which are in a display case near the register.
Donarumo suddenly pulled a knife on Johnsen and demanded money, police said. But Johnsen ordered him to get out.
Donarumo persisted. "Give me the (expletive) money," he demanded. That's when Johnsen picked up a coffee mug next to the cash register and slammed it into Donarumo's face, leaving him with cuts on his nose and his cheek.
Then he chased Donarumo out of the store and tackled him, police said, yelling, "This man just robbed me."
Yesterday, it was a far quieter scene at Pickering Wharf, where another antiques dealer behind the counter hadn't even heard about the incident.
Donarumo, who was treated for several cuts to his face at Salem Hospital, pleaded not guilty to armed assault with intent to rob a person over 60, giving a false name and being disorderly at his arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court.
Prosecutors asked Judge Dunbar Livingston to hold Donarumo without bail as a danger to the public. A hearing on that request was scheduled for Friday.
Donarumo will remain in custody because the new charges are a potential violation of his probation for a 2004 robbery at a Domino's Pizza in Beverly.
In that holdup, Donarumo had first gone into the shop on Cabot Street just as it was closing and asked for pizza. He left without any pizza, then returned moments later with a silver handgun and demanded the night's proceeds from a driver, $465.
"Obviously, he took the law into his own hands," Lt. Conrad Prosniewski said of the clerk, Glenn Steen Johnsen, who refused to go along with the demands of a knife-wielding robber. "But this was a desperate individual, and the outcome could have been very different. We're not recommending others do something like this."
Johnsen, 62, apparently got the better of Steven Donarumo, a 27-year-old Danvers native who had recently been released from prison, where he served part of a 21/2- to three-year prison term for armed robbery.
On Monday afternoon, Salem police were called about two men fighting outside of the Antiques Gallery, an antique cooperative where Johnsen sold furniture.
Johnsen told police Donarumo had entered the store and started a conversation about coins, which are in a display case near the register.
Donarumo suddenly pulled a knife on Johnsen and demanded money, police said. But Johnsen ordered him to get out.
Donarumo persisted. "Give me the (expletive) money," he demanded. That's when Johnsen picked up a coffee mug next to the cash register and slammed it into Donarumo's face, leaving him with cuts on his nose and his cheek.
Then he chased Donarumo out of the store and tackled him, police said, yelling, "This man just robbed me."
Yesterday, it was a far quieter scene at Pickering Wharf, where another antiques dealer behind the counter hadn't even heard about the incident.
Donarumo, who was treated for several cuts to his face at Salem Hospital, pleaded not guilty to armed assault with intent to rob a person over 60, giving a false name and being disorderly at his arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court.
Prosecutors asked Judge Dunbar Livingston to hold Donarumo without bail as a danger to the public. A hearing on that request was scheduled for Friday.
Donarumo will remain in custody because the new charges are a potential violation of his probation for a 2004 robbery at a Domino's Pizza in Beverly.
In that holdup, Donarumo had first gone into the shop on Cabot Street just as it was closing and asked for pizza. He left without any pizza, then returned moments later with a silver handgun and demanded the night's proceeds from a driver, $465.
He has a prior record of larceny and robbery, as well.
Prosniewski said that even though Johnsen escaped uninjured, it's impossible to know just how dangerous a robber or attacker might become if challenged. But it's clear that someone committing an armed robbery is desperate and capable of anything.
"Taking the law into your own hands and fighting is very, very risky," Prosniewski said.
