With a knife at his throat Larry Larivee raised his hands in the air hoping that someone would see.
Larivee was mopping the floor of the Mac’s on Arthur Street and Edward Street just after midnight on Dec. 22 when three disguised teens, 14, 15 and 17, came in looking like they wanted to fight him.
“They grabbed me by the throat and they pressed me up against the cooler and started demanding that I give them all of my money like I had the till in my back pocket,” Larivee, an aspiring comedian able to make light of the situation despite its seriousness, said Tuesday afternoon.
The 15-year-old held a knife at his throat and moved Larivee over to the till.
“Like he was trying to put on a show like he was just more into trying to intimidate me and he was getting upset that he knew that he wasn’t,” Larivee said.
For the next three or four minutes, Larivee held his hands in the air like a call for help, hoping that a passing motorist would see. Luckily, the person who saw was a police officer. The officer moved in with his gun drawn telling the teens to get on the ground. While two of them did, the one holding Larivee refused and even moved closer to the officer. The officer began negotiating with the teen. At one point he asked the teen to look at what he had done to Larivee’s neck because of the pressure of the blade.
“And he whispers in my ear, ‘Like I give a shit’,” Larviee said. “That gave me goose bumps right there.”
Back-up arrived with more weapons drawn.
“He’s getting nervous, I’m getting nervous. He’s shaking, I’m shaking and then the cops are staring right at me with five or six guns drawn and I’d never seen so many guns in my life. I’d never even seen a gun until that point ... that was pretty shocking too,” Larivee said.
The officers eventually convinced the teen to drop the knife, Larivee dove out of the way as officers tackled the teen and hauled the three away. Although he was offered time off, Larivee went back to work the next day. And that’s when he realized that more needs to be done to protect Mac’s employees.
“Something has to be done. It has to stop,” Larivee said.
Current security methods from selective hours to drive-by security checks aren’t effective Larivee, who calls himself the 26th victim of Mac’s robberies in Thunder Bay this year. And while he credits the removal of posters from store windows as a start, Larivee wants Mac’s employees to be able to protect themselves. Mac’s has a no-resist policy that can actually do more harm than good Larivee said.
“I don’t want to have go to work and fear losing my job because my hands are tied behind my back because I’m going to lose my job if I give these kids a spanking,” Larivee said. “That’s the stupid thing about it. Here I am fearing for my life and I can’t even defend myself.”
Larivee also thanked the passing police officer and all police involved.
“I really do give them all the credit for doing a great job,” he said.
The three youths have been charged with robbery with a weapon, assault with a weapon, the use of a disguise with intent and forcible confinement. Their names cannot be published under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Company officials have met with Thunder Bay police on at least two occasions since the most recent rash of robberies, and told Dougall Media reporters earlier this month they've implemented a number of new security measures, including improved lighting, fencing and added security guards.
