A Shirtless Australian Man Brandishing a Broken Flip Flop Foils Robbery by Grabbing Keys to Getaway Car

Upon seeing a robbery in progress at a Gold Coast, Queensland restaurant, a shirtless James Ross-Munro leaped to his feet and ran over to the (alleged) perpetrator’s empty car, and, using colorful language plus a bit of logic, he removed the keys. This forced the robber to try to escape on foot. The heroic Ross-Munro followed closely after him and, despite “busting his plugger” (flip-flop), foiled the robbery attempt altogether. His friend Kane Wiblen caught the entire thing on video.

A few days later, the pair appeared on the Channel Nine Today Show and described the incident in the “most Aussie way possible”, sending newscaster Karl Stefanovic into unstoppable fits of laughter.

In an interview with the panel on Channel Nine’s Today show, James Ross-Munroe and Kane Wiblen, talked about the chance coincidence that led them to taking the keys out of the engine of the robber’s car in Queensland. Karl Stefanovic applauded the two unlikely heroes and claimed that they were the reason that he’d come back from holidays.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.