some of those questions. but in the long run, i think it will -- i haven't done many of these escapes, these after-action reports, you're always interested in lessons learned and how things can be improved. and certainly from the standpoint of correctional facilities for security improvements and so on. i'm sure this will serve as a template for corrections nationwi nationwide. >> it is the top of the hour. we want to let everybody know that we are waiting for governor cuomo to appear at that podium and speak about the capture of david sweat who you see on the left side of your screen. this was a picture taken right after he was apprehended. i want to go back now to jim kavanaugh. jim, we just heard that perhaps he's feeling some -- david sweat may be feeling some relief right now. that's what zeke unger told us who is a bounty hunter. what are your thoughts? what do you think he's experiencing right now? >> well, just to build on what john said, i agree. i think he is feeling absolute relief. you know, i was special agent in

charge in the birmingham division of atf when we had the bombing of eric rudolph. he killed a birmingham officer. he killed people in atlanta in the olympics. we chased him in the mountains of north carolina for five years. i mean, the fbi, the atf, the u.s. marshals, the state police agencies of georgia, north carolina, tennessee, bam balabae were all involved. it took us years. it reminds me of that and other manhunts of cop killers and so forth. we're just mortal men. we build them up in the media. and not wrongly. we build them up as dangerous and armed. and law enforcement does that from the podium because we want to keep the public safe. but they become giants. they become these big, archcriminal guys and all this stuff. and then when you catch them, this is what they are. they're a tired, hungry, desperate guy. matt had a gun, so he went down, you know, in a blaze. but this guy's just a tired, hungry guy. he's got the stolen fatigues from the hunting cabin.

and what arthur said earlier i think is true. i mean, they got in a hunting cabin, probably turned the radio on. and every local station up there's talking about this and was likely talking about, you know, that the state police had released a puckeicture and have beard. and they're probably hearing this on the radio if they're not watching it on television. and then they say, hey, let's shave. they're in a hunting cabin so they can shave and get the gun and the clothes. but look at the last part of the plan. what does he do? he just starts walking down the road. >> exactly. >> he just starts walking down the road. and so this tells you, this is kind of the answer to the whole thing. they never had any kind of plan. just like john said, arthur, zeke, all this. we are all in agreement here, clint. these guys' plan, the high water was right at the manhole. once they got fatigued, once they got out of the woods, once they couldn't lay low and just travel a little bit at night, eat their candy and some peanut butter. >> or have joyce pick them up

with the getaway car. >> right, exactly. remember, joyce didn't pick them up, i think, because go back to matt lauer's interview with the husband of joyce mitchell, which is key, and he says "joyce told me that matt threatened her. that if she didn't help them and go through with it, he threatened her and threatened to kill me and her." and i think that is the thing that turned her away. she's scared -- she was so scared of matt that it turned her away. so his own viciousness and his own inability to turn off the viciousness really was his undoing. it made his escape and sweat's escape no good. so in the end, just two losers, and like john said, a great job by law enforcement and the commanders who made the right decisions by keeping the saturation up there, kept those troopers on the road, the sergeant shot him, you know, the citizens helped them. the governor stayed on it. you know, really, really great work. and as far as we know, nobody

else hurt but matt and sweat. >> and we are also receiving reports that sweat has been treated, and he is now being transferred to albany. so we're going to get more information out of that as we can. you know, what's been so interesting hearing about how this whole operation came about within prison and the relationships and the relationships with joyce and who knows who else was involved in helping these men do this. and the fact that they were on an honor ward or an honor hall. and there was all this hierarchy and they could have dance parties, and they could make hamburgers and have all of these privileges. it really brings to light that some of these prison tv shows aren't so off base. and isn't it time for us to do some kind of overhaul of our prison culture or the way we run them? >> well, i think we're going to see that in new york state certainly from the governor and certainly there will be a new sheriff, i think, on that ward. you know, it's not all peaches and cream either. >> i have to interrupt because governor cuomo is about to come

out and speak. we are seeing law enforcement behind him gathering. and of course, this is a very celebratory day for them. and forgive me for interrupting you, but as you were just saying, hopefully this will spur some sort of prison reform here in new york. and we are waiting for the governor. he is about to step on stage. and we are going to take a listen to hear his comments on the capture of david sweat. and, of course, you see his picture on the left side of your screen, looking very desperate, pale, sick, tired. from what we know, he had just been shot at that moment, and police officers were apprehending him. and taking him to the hospital. now we know that he has been transferred to the albany medical center for further treatment of his wounds. and again, you can see state troopers gathering behind the podium. all sorts of law enforcement. now let's take a listen.

>> we are here with good news, as i'm sure you've heard already, the nightmare is finally over. it took 22 days, but we can now confirm as of two days ago, as you know, mr. matt is deceased, and the other escapee, mr. sweat, is in custody. he's in stable condition. and let's give a big round of applause to the men -- it has been a long, long time. but as you've heard and the superintendent will go into further detail, mr. sweat was spotted by a new york state police sergeant. sergeant jay cook. he was approached this afternoon. the sergeant recognized mr. sweat, obviously from his

description. he encountered and engaged mr. sweat. mr. sweat fled. the trooper gave chase. the trooper was unable to catch him on foot. at one point the sergeant decided to discharge his weapon, hitting mr. sweat twice in the torso. mr. sweat went down. help arrived, and mr. sweat is now in a hospital in stable condition. this happened a mile and a half from the canadian border. in the town of constable. i had the chance to speak with sergeant cook and congratulate him on his great police work. he was alone when this happened. sergeant cook happens to be from troop "b," which is this area. so he knew the area very well. but he was still alone, and it was a very courageous act. i said to sergeant cook, who has two daughters, 16 and 17, i said, "well, you go home tonight

and tell your daughters that you're a hero. with teenage girls, that will probably last a good 24 hours, and then you'll just go back to being a regular dad, as i well know." this was an extraordinary situation in many ways. the prison at dannemora is over 100 years old. this is the first escape in 100 years. and if you were writing a movie plot, they would say that this was overdone. you had hacksaws delivered by a facilitator in ground-up meat. you had two prisoners who were on the honor block. they hacksawed through the back of their cell. they got onto the catwalks. the catwalks took them into a labyrinth of tunnels where they came across a contractor's jaw box, large toolbox.

one of the prisoners was a burglar, knew how to pick the lock, pick the lock repeatedly. they used those tools then to do the work of breaking the wall, cutting the pipe, cutting the chains and making way through the sewer pipe. it was an extraordinary circumstance. and the first escape in over 100 years, but one escape is one escape too many. we will have the ongoing investigation to find out exactly who was involved. we have two people who have been arrested for facilitation or accomplices in this situation. but the investigation's not over. now that we have mr. sweat, it gives us the opportunity to have some more questions and provide more facts on the overall situation. anyone who we find who was culpable and guilty of cooperating in this escape will be fully prosecuted.

the d.a.s have done a great job of both franklin and clinton county, and i want to thank them. but we will prosecute them to the full extent of the law. if anyone else was involved, we will find that. we will also be conducting an investigation into the systems in that prison. and how could this happen and how did they have access to the catwalk, et cetera. so there are a lot of questions to be answered, and we already started a full investigation that's being headed by the inspector general of the state of new york. but today ends with good news. these were really dangerous, dangerous men, both matt and sweat. they were killers. mr. matt killed at least two people. mr. sweat killed a sheriff's deputy in broom county in a savage, savage way. so these were dangerous people. we could not tolerate them being on the loose. the terrain was very difficult.

this prison happens to be located in heavily forested area. so it was an extraordinarily difficult road to hoe, so to speak. and this was an unprecedented coming together of law enforcement on every level. we had local law enforcement, we had federal law enforcement, state assets, all working together, hand and glove with gears meshing. and i just want to thank the department of corrections sort team headed by colonel bradford, the new york state encon police headed by captain chafia, the forest rangers, the fbi which did an outstanding job. i spoke on the phone to agent vail and agent tim dunham is with us today, and we want to thank them, the u.s. marshals, the clinton county sheriff's office, the clinton county d.a., the franklin county sheriff's

office, franklin county district attorney's office, platsburg police, vermont state police, governor peter shumlin who was extraordinarily cooperative, visited the prison, brought vermont assets to work, hand and glove with new york. the dhses, homeland security, u.s. customs and border protection, which did an outstanding job in apprehending mr. matt two days ago, washington county sheriff's office, and the st. regis mohawk tribal assets. we want to thank them all very much. and last but not least, i want to thank the people of the state of new york who were, as usual, stepped up to the challenge. people in franklin county, clinton county, they had all sorts of leads. they were on the lookout. law enforcement didn't end here. every citizen did their job, and they did it bravely, and they

did it courageously, and they dealt with the increased police presence. and the fear, frankly, of having to go three weeks knowing that there were murderers loose in your backyards. but new yorkers are tough. and they stepped right up. they stepped up to the challenge. they provided help. and they stood with us every step of the way. and i want to thank the people of franklin and clinton county personally for their courage and every law enforcement officer. literally thousands of law enforcement officers were engaged in this. and it's nice when it ends well. and we said that we're going to have a celebration at the appropriate time. but that everyone goes home safe. and the escapees have been dealt with. you couldn't have a better ending. we wish it didn't happen in the first place, but if you have to have it happen, this is the way you want it to end. another round of applause for the men and women of law enforcement.

[ cheers and applause ] and now i turn you over to superintendent joseph demeco who runs the new york state police. superintendent. >> thank you, governor. good afternoon. i'll give you the facts that i know, but i just caution that the shooting investigation into the apprehension of david sweat is ongoing. so i'll give you whatever i do know, though. about 3:20 today, sergeant jay cook who's assigned to troop "b" spent most of his career right here in sp malone, a 2 21-year veteran, was on patrol. he was supervising perimeter posts in the area in ouren itted ground search. as he was driving down the road, he spotted a male who was basically jogging up along the side of the road. he approached him.

and as he exited the car, the male turned to him. he says, "hey, come over here." the male kind of ignored him. he called out to him again at which time the male turned around, kind of like, you know, what do you want from me? and he recognized him to be david sweat. and at that time sweat turned and fled on foot with the sergeant in pursuit. at some point running across a field, he realized that sweat was going to make it to a treeline and possibly could have disappeared. and he fired two shots from his service weapon, his handgun, hitting sweat twice in the torso. local ems team responded and treated sweat on the scene. he was airlifted to alice hyde hospital. and he's in stable condition. and i would expect that he's going to be moved to one of the trauma centers for further treatment. we've been in the area, as i told you on friday, we started up at the northern border near the canadian border. this event took place about a

mile and a half from the canadian border. our concern was that they could have made it to the border, and we were pushing southward from the border. and i think that it was effective today, being in the right area where sweat was, i can only assume he was going for the border that he was that close. and we couldn't be happier that we were able to apprehend him and not lose him. it's been a long three weeks. we had done some investigation of the matt shooting and found there was a camp that we located where we thought maybe they'd bed down up in the area of route 41 in malone. and we were able to obtain some dna of discarded material there that came back to david sweat. it was a picnic style pepper shakers. and we believe that possibly these two males were using pepper to throw the scent off of the dogs who were tracking them. and we did have difficulty tracking, so, you know, it was

fairly effect i have beive in t respect. i just want to echo the words of the governor, thank my law enforcement partners. tremendous effort. i've seen them out here over the last three weeks in the fields, 4 ho 24 hours a day in the rain, in the cold, in the swamps, in the woods. a tremendous effort by all of our partners in law enforcement. i also want to single out our on-scene commander, major charles guess who's been the face of the state police over the past three weeks. tremendous leader. [ cheers and applause ] he has really done a phenomenal job over the last three weeks, leading our ground troops and coordinating with our bci, our investigator sides. you know, we tracked down over 2500 leads coming in from the community. we appreciate the partnership that we received from all of the community members. it's a team effort. it's law enforcement and the community working together. i think that was effective here.

again, i said it the other day, i appreciate the support that everyone's shown us and the patience that they've had. hopefully now everybody's life can get back to normal. but at this time i guess we'd be willing to take questions. >> mr. sweat was captured in the search area, the heart of it. and i was told that you guys were hammering that area for the last day or two. so can you tell us what led you to suspect that he might be so far away? >> well, you know, at the time when we located matt, we were already searching from basically the canadian border southward. we had moved our deployment sometime around last thursday after the burglary. we figured we'd go further north and try to push down in the event they might be going for canada. this was right in that search area. it was approximately 16 miles north of where matt was shot and killed. >> was sweat armed and with what? and are the nature of his injuries to the extent that he

wouldn't be able to speak and talk with authorities, and has he said anything either to the officer or the sergeant before getting shot and after since being taken into custody? >> well, his injuries, he was shot twice in the torso, and he's considered in stable condition. he hasn't been interviewed by our investigators. obviously we're looking to interview him. there's a lot of blank spaces between the time they left dannemora prison three weeks ago and when they were apprehended, and we would like to fill in some of those spaces. and i'm guessing at some point, you know, we'll be able to do some of that. >> was he armed? >> he wasn't armed at the time he was apprehended, no. >> can you confirm that three teenagers saw him, had interaction with him, called in a tip and then that led to the sergeant finding him? is that how that went down? >> not today. today it was routine patrol by the sergeant who spotted him on the side of the road. and some good heads-up police work by the sergeant, very alert. he was by himself, supervising

perimeter posts as a sergeant. he approached him. he did an excellent job. i think he did a very courageous and brave act of policing. and as the governor said, we've commended him. and i couldn't be prouder of him. >> -- 22-mile lockdown radius pretty tight yesterday. how did sweat get so far in that area in constable? >> you know, you've been around here for the last three weeks like we have. the terrain is so dense, you can't see five feet in front of you. so, i mean, if you stayed in the treeline, you know, use something as a guide to -- whether it was a road or a railbed or anything else, you know, you could make your way. in this case, like i said, if you stayed in the treeline, you wouldn't have been able to see him from the road. so it's not impossible. >> was there standing water that if sweat were spotted and he didn't surrender and to shoot him? >> absolutely not. our intention as law enforcement was to bring him in without

having to use force. you know, sometimes as in the case of matt, you know, where he was armed and he presented a threat, sometimes force is necessary. it's a dangerous job that our law enforcement officers do. and in the case today of sweat, i mean, if sweat made the treeline, you know, would have been gone, you know, who knows what kind of damage. you know, it's kind of -- i'm just thankful three weeks, no one has seen civilians, no innocent law enforcement were hurt. >> were they together close by each other on friday when matt was shot, or did they split up at some point? >> obviously, since they escaped, there was a time when they were together, and there was a time when they split ap t apart. you know, when was it? i couldn't say for sure. other than the fact that sweat's dna was recovered in the area of that county route 41 burglary. you know, it's due north from there. very possible. >> all right. we're going to wrap it up.

>> thank you very much. >> thank you all very much. one more round of applause for our partners who are all here with the new york state police. thank you. >> and there you have it, governor cuomo asking for another round of applause. everyone elated that david sweat has been captured. and governor cuomo started off his speech by saying "the nightmare is over." i want to go back to our guests. clint, give me some of your thoughts on the governor's press conference. obviously, he's elated, and he said this could have ended much, much worse. >> well, i think he's absolutely right. and these three weeks, based upon what we know right now, no one else was injured. no one else was killed. i think law enforcement was able to keep the pressure on these individuals. they were able to keep them only 40 miles away from the prison. and even though it was an extremely rough territory, as you know, 200 -- i mean, 6

million acres in that area, they kept the pressure on between the state police and the other areas. they not only kept these individuals confined, but they were able to protect the homes, the property, everything else out there to basically keep these individuals from intruding into a city, taking hostages, stealing vehicles or committing any other type of crime. so i think the governor is right. i mean, this is a feather in the cap for all the law enforcement agencies. now, you and i may say, wait. it took them, you know, 22 days. well, they got him. and i think that's what counts. did it cost a lot of money? yeah. would we have wanted to see one person -- one civilian injured by these guys? absolutely not. so right now i think it's money well spent. the issue becomes what goes on behind the walls of those prisons, and do things need to be changed? that's a whole another investigation that looks like it's taking place

simultaneously, and something's going to have to be done about that, too. >> certainly. and jim, they were talking about how dense -- the superintendent was talking about how dense that area is. he was saying, as we've heard, that you can't even see five feet in front of you. so it's quite remarkable that this almost small-looking man, david sweat, that we're looking at on the screen was able to survive at all after he lost richard matt. jim? jim cav fkavanaugh, are you sti with us? >> yeah, i'm still here. yeah, i'm still here. >> are you surprised that david sweat had such survival instincts? >> well, you know, he had the advantage of the deep, thick woods, like the superintendent said. and so, you know, you can't see someone through that brush and foliage unless they're moving. so you have to be really close to be able to see the movement. once they sit still, you could walk 20 feet right past them and not see them. and see what happened to sweat was, he couldn't move through

the thick brush effectively. they had been doing that for three weeks, and they only made 35 or 40 miles in three weeks. that's only a couple of miles a day, 2 1/2 miles a day. so he wanted to get some more time. so he comes out on the road, and he's jogging. you can't jog through the woods. he had to get somewhere like a power line or a road. so he decided to take the chance. and that's when the sergeant caught him. but you know what's important about that is the superintendent and the governor talking about the on-scene commander, the major there. old yankee catcher, branch rickey. he said luck is the residue of design. and by designing the perimeter around where they were, the sergeant checking his troopers on the perimeter, by designing that, then the luck was they spotted him. had they not designed it, the perimeter, they probably wouldn't have saw him there. so it goes back to the strategy, the commanders, the deployment of the troops. i think it's great that the new york state police are the ones

that apprehended sweat. you know, and the customs and border patrol tactical unit got matt. teamwork all around. great work all around. >> great day for sergeant jay cook, for sure. >> absolutely for sergeant cook, but every single trooper, officer, corrections guy, federal agent, u.s. marshal that stood out there in the rain for weeks, these guys saw some of you. trust me, they saw you. they saw you through the treeline. they heard the aviation and helicopters and airplanes. they saw the vehicles, the patrol cars. they saw the armored cars because they could look through those woods. they could look through that canopy and see. and that kept them only going certain ways, moving quietly, hard, kept their time down, kept them away from the citizens. so every single officer out there participated in that. it's great work. >> yeah, great work. arthur roderick, i want to ask you, are you surprised that david sweat would be walking on the road given that he was

unarmed? >> not really. i mean, i think, you know, he had reached the point where he had to take a shot here. he had to take a chance. and i think his chance was getting to an area that he could easily move through. and i think, you know, coming up, this would have got a lot tougher as we moved through this particular week with the holiday coming up. people, they would have been thousands of people heading up to that area. maybe not as many as usual with what was going on, but a lot of people have homes up there that they were going to open up for the summer which made it a lot more difficult. so i think the timeliness of this arrest, and just the fact -- i mean, it's 22 days. he lost his psychological and physical support when matt was taken down. and i think he was just making a run for the border at this point. and luckily, you know, as jim had mentioned, that the perimeters were established certain ways with an inner

perimeter, outer perimeter and probably even a further outer perimeter as they were moving down from the canadian border that allowed sergeant cook to get out there. yeah, i think the superintendent and the major did a hell of a job putting this thing together. >> are we likely to see a closer look at our prison system and the culture that exists inside those walls? >> yeah, absolutely. i think that is definitely going to happen. i mean, you'll hear probably about every attempted escape here in the next month or so and what the circumstances are surrounding that escape and what's going on in a lot of these jails. i mean, for years, there's been -- there's been at least on the federal penitentiary side, there's always an avenue for prisoners to file civil rights lawsuits against facilities. and that has actually changed the way a lot of prisoners are treated in these facilities. and that has trickled down to the state also. but i think now this is going to open the door much broader to having more look at what these facilities are doing inside.

but also change the culture from a corrections aspect side also. >> it does seem that there needs to be some sort of culture change. and i want to bring in john cuff. john, give us your thoughts on this day and the governor was so elated. >> well, everyone's elated. i mean, i can't say enough. what a great day for law enforcement. this is especially the black eye that it's taken on different occasions. i mean, huge, huge day. i mean, they really did a fantastic job. i can't say enough for all the men and women on the ground. and get beingiting back to whatd art were saying, these perimeters, it's akin to being casting a net out, so to speak. >> what do you mean by that? >> law enforcement, casting a net out. and the noose was closing in on these guys, okay? you could kind of anticipate their flight pattern based on the maps and the cabins going up and so on. and so this was a well-laid plan, and it's textbook fugitive

investigation, which was transparent. it's behind the scenes. everyone saw the manhunt going on in a densely wooded area. but behind the scenes, there's an investigation going on. there are strategies being laid out to include what happened inside of the prison as far as the escape. but also planning on what's next. because if you think about this, last week, prior to last week, the first cabin being discovered, no one knew for sure that these guys were in the mountains, okay? they could have had a getaway car. but once you establish dna on both of these subjects in that one cabin, that was a significant game changer. and then leading up to a couple days ago when the second cabin was discovered, okay. granted, the dna was only on the one subject in the cabin, but as we find out last night and today that nearby sweat's dna was recovered as well. >> okay. we've got to take a quick break right now. john cuff, thank you. and stay with us. you've been following our coverage, the capture of fugitive david sweat. an elated governor and, of

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i'm page hopkins with the breaking news we've been following. escaped prisoner david sweat is in custody after being shot by a new york state trooper after three weeks on the run and two days after his fellow fugitive, richard matt, was shot and killed. sweat was spotted on a road in constable just a mile and a half from the canadian border. in a news conference just a moment ago, governor andrew cuomo hailed the heroism of sergeant jay cook and all the law enforcement involved in the search for the fugitives. we'll bring you updates throughout the evening. and now we're going to take you back to our programming. two thieves ambush a bar

owner at closing time. >> i was mugged. i was stabbed. i was hit over the head with a pool cue. >> but the robbery goes awry when this barkeep takes a stand and fights back. >> they thought i was going to give them all my money. but that's not what happened. >> january 15th, 2010, lakewood, colorado. it's just before 1:30 early friday morning. last call at the cordial lounge. security cameras roll as behind the bar 32-year-old owner t.j.sazima is closing up shop. >> i was cleaning glasses, putting things away. and i got to a point where i began counting and shuffling the money around in my drawer, getting ready to close the restaurant down. >> t.j. waits on four remaining customers playing pool. patrons he's never seen before. two women and two men. as t.j. counts the money in the

cash drawer, one of the women approaches the bar. >> i thought she was going to ask for one more round of drinks. >> but the woman is not thirsty. >> she grabbed me and sort of pulled me toward her. and to this day, it's the weirdest thing. but i thought she was going to try and give me a kiss. i thought she was coming on to me, to be honest. then i realized, of course, pretty quickly that she wasn't. she was attacking me. and she was going for the drawer of money. >> and she is not acting alone. >> another patron from the bar, male, ends up assisting the female and starts to attack the bartender. >> lakewood police detective matt vandever investigated the case. >> the bartender attempts to get away from her with the cash register, and it gets knocked to the ground. >> suddenly the tussle takes a more dangerous turn. >> that's when i saw the knife. then she's trying to slit my throat from behind, telling me

she's going to kill me or that i'm going to die. >> the blade just misses t.j.'s neck but slices his left ear. the woman slashes at t.j. again. this time stabbing him in the abdomen. >> i knew that i had been punctured. when your life is threatened and you're in that fight mode, you just kind of don't think about it. you just think, i'm fighting for my life right now. >> with no other employees left in the bar, t.j.'s best chance for help is a hidden panic button under the counter. he purposely maneuvers his attackers toward the center of the bar and is able to reach the silent alarm to alert police. >> when our dispatcher sees a panic alarm, then our patrol officers respond immediately to the scene. >> the phone almost immediately started ringing off the hook. so i knew that the police were on their way. it was very reassuring. >> at that moment, the bar owner turns the tables on his attackers.

he now goes on the offensive. fighting to keep the assailants there until police arrive. >> i wasn't going to let them leave the building. i just had this fire in my belly as a husband and father and business owner that i just had to do this. >> the friends of the two attackers, apparently unaware of the robbery mans, come out from playing pool and realize what's going on. for a moment, it looks as if they each try to stop the fight. but both give up. and instead of helping t.j., they flee the bar. the three-way throwdown rages on. at one point, a tap handle is knocked into the on position. what comes next puts t.j. on the short list for bar owner of the year. >> i'm not sure exactly what the bartender was thinking, but he took the time off fighting to turn the tap off and save the beer. >> the female attacker is able to break free. >> she had taken a pool cue,

lined up and just came right down on the top of my head. which is by far the most devastating blow that i sustained. even more than being stabbed. it bled a lot. >> several minutes have passed since the fight began. and t.j. is losing steam. >> and i remember thinking, you know, i don't know if i can hang out this long. where are the cops? >> at 1:30 a.m., five minutes after t.j. hits the panic button, police arrive. arrested, 34-year-old pamela tolbert and her boyfriend, alfonzo portugal, 38. tolbert, a parolee with five prior felonies, gets a 27-year prison sentence. after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery and second-degree assault. portugal pleads guilt countery aggravated robbery and is sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

essential to the case, the video recorded by security cameras installed by the previous owner after an earlier robbery. >> i think it would have been difficult to get a true understanding of what occurred or what the assailants had actually attempted to do with the bartender until we actually saw that footage and saw what occurred. >> the two customers who fled the scene are not charged. lucky for t.j., his stab wound is superficial. no stitches necessary. but the blow from the pool cue requires 13. >> i think t.j.'s lucky to be alive after this. >> t.j. has no regrets about fighting back. >> when things that are valuable to you are threatened, i think just about anybody would be amazed at what they can do to defend those things. >> for t.j., the assault is a life-changing event. within weeks, he sells the cordial lounge and quits the bar business altogether. he goes back to school, choosing a new career path as a grade schoolteacher.

in another twist, t.j. has forgiven tolbert and portugal for their brutal assault and may even seek to have their prison terms reduced. >> i probably will begin investigating actions i can take towards some sort of restorative justice or mediation with them and see if they can hopefully become good people and productive members of our society. coming up -- time is running out for a customer choking on a quesadilla. >> ran up to me, grabbed my arm and was, like, you've got to do something! you've got to do something! >> when "caught on camera: heroes and villains" continues. 6 pills a day. with aleve it's just two pills, all day. now i'm back! aleve. all day strong.

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a casual dinner out turns terrifying when this college student bites off more than he can chew. >> all of a sudden you're not breathing, and you only have a matter of a minute or two to get that food out of your throat, or you're done. >> but help is on the menu. thanks to a hero waiter. >> i didn't know how many thrusts it would take because once i got around him, he was a lot bigger guy than i was. >> it was the scariest moment of my life, definitely. >> march 2nd, 2011, atlanta, georgia. it's early wednesday evening at verde tacoria. >> it was a very busy fight, very hectic, a lot of people. i had gotten a number of tables sat in a row. >> waiter matt mcconnell, a graduate student at nearby georgia state university, has his hands full. >> i was kind of in a busy state of mind, trying to ring in their

orders, keep everything flowing smoothly. >> seated at one of those tables, georgia tech undergrad paul hargate. >> we were just out for dinner and a few drinks. it was me and my wife, her two sisters, and three or four of their friends. >> security cameras installed just two weeks before catch paul and the group sharing a relaxing evening. paul digs into a dish called the black and blue quesadilla. grilled steak with bleu cheese, chihuahua cheese, and caramelized onions. midway through the male, he takes an especially big bite and swallows, only to feel a chunk of quesadilla long dge in his throat. paul immediately reaches for his glass of water. >> i tried to wash it down, and it wasn't going down. so i kept drinking water. >> but the water only makes things worse. >> the water pushed it down

further in there. but it didn't go down into my stomach. it went down into my air tube. and that completely blocked any air from coming in. and then all the water came back out. it looked like i was throwing up. i realized that i couldn't breathe. it was pretty terrifying. >> paul's wife to his left thinks he's getting sick and hands him a napkin. >> i just kind of brushed that off because i didn't need a napkin. i needed someone to give me the heimlich maneuver. that's when i stood up and was trying to get help from people. that's when everybody started freaking out. >> a quick-thinking patron alerts wart matt alert s waiter matt mcconnell. >> grabbed up to me, grabbed my arm and said "you've got to do something! you've got to do something!" >> paul's wife tries slapping his back before his sister-in-law makes an attempt at the heimlich maneuver. >> she's only about 5 foot, 100

pounds. so i don't even think she could get her arms around me. >> it's been 35 seconds since paul stopped breathing. >> this is a life-or-death moment. and somebody's either going to save me or i'm going to die right here in front of all my friends. >> it doesn't take matt long to realize that somebody is him. >> once i saw the other woman at the table was unable to perform the heimlich, that's when i just jumped in. >> and not a moment too soon. paul has now gone 45 seconds without air. >> i was starting to get a little dizzy right when he came over. i probably was about to fall down to the ground. he grabbed me right in the nick of time. >> heimlich training is mandatory at the restaurant. so matt knows just what to do. >> he just came right up behind me, had his hand right under my sternum. >> i ran up, placed my fist just below his ribcage. my thrusts were in and up, and i actually had to lift him up off

his feet. >> he lifted me a good foot and a half off the ground. >> matt gives several hard thrusts. and then -- >> it pretty much flew right out of my mouth. >> matt's heimlich works, propelling the piece of food from paul's windpipe. >> i took a huge breath of air. i was really starved for some oxygen. that first breath was the biggest sigh of relief i've ever had in my whole life. >> i looked on the chair and saw -- i mean, it was a good size piece of steak and cheese. i grabbed a napkin real quick and scooped that up. i think he had seen enough of the black and bleu quesadilla for one night. >> paul is visibly shaken and slowly makes his way back to his table. >> i couldn't thank him enough. he had just saved my life. >> matt, ever the professional, jumps right back into waiter mode. >> i made sure my other tables were doing okay. like nothing had happened. >> and yes, paul does finish the

dish that nearly finished him. that black and bleu quesadilla. >> i was very cautious the rest of the night when chewing my food. >> the next day, verde tacoria posts at what he sees. >> i didn't realize how close i was to dying. it really only felt like maybe 15 to 20 seconds. after i watched the video, it went on for about a full minute. i didn't realize it had gone on that long. >> matt becomes a local hero, albeit a reluctant one. >> anybody should step in and help. that's part of what we should do being citizens in a community. i don't think that necessarily makes you a hero in any type of way. >> what's up, man? >> good to see you. >> good to see you. >> paul begs to differ. >> really the only reason i'm still here is because he took

the reins and did what he was trained to do and he saved my life. >> coming up, three armed thugs hold up a convenience store. but they don't count on the granny with the .38 caliber surprise. >> i had the gun cocked and ready to pull the trigger. >> when "caught on camera, heroes and villains" continues. seems like we've hit a road block. that reminds me... anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea...

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three armed men storm a gas station convenience store but get more than they bargain for. >> they don't know what's behind closed doors. >> a gun wielding grandma who sends them running for cover. >> i do know how to pull the trigger. >> june 26th, beach island

south carolina, a town with two speeds, slow and slower. a local fixture, todd's convenience store where mary todd has been working the front counter for more than 35 years. >> when my husband is not there, i like to be there. if problems arise, i take care of it. >> on this lazy friday afternoon, the great-grandmother twice over retreats to the store's back office to indulge her twin passions. >> i was crocheting and watching television, and that's a good thing to do. >> seven security cameras roll as two teenager cashiers work the registers up front while long time employee michael wallace stocks the shelves. >> come to work at 2:00 in the

afternoon. i was stocking some beer to put on the shelf. >> just another routine day. >> everything was real, real smooth. going smooth. >> until just before 3:00. three masked men rush in. >> they were dressed in a lot of clothes. they had things on their faces. they were carrying guns, big guns. >> they wanted the guns to be seen. they wanted to hurt somebody. >> they were going to clean us out of all the money. >> the men immediately split up. one guards the door. another makes a beeline for the back of the store, while the third heads straight for wallace. >> he come up to me, told me to get on the floor. i'll be honest with you, i was scared. you don't want to make these people madder than they already are. you buck them, they will shoot you. >> when the gunman looks away

for an instant, wallace moves toward the front counter where the store's silent alarm is. >> that's when i start easing over to get behind the counter. he grabbed ahold of my shirt and hit me with the gun like a blunt force hit. that's when i went down. >> wallace is knocked out cold but one of the cashiers had better luck reaching the alarm. >> the little girl on the cash register, we call her little red. going down on the floor, she hit the alarm button for the police to come. >> meanwhile the gunman at the back of the store is trying to break down the door to mary's office. >> i crooked my head around to look out that little window where the door was, and i saw a man running and hitting the door. by the time he hit it a second time, i reached for my gun. it was on top of my bible. >> mary's weapon of choice, a .38 special.

>> i live by the bible and i live by the gun. i always keep my gun on my bible with a big rubber band on it. i took my gun off and i cocked the gun. my husband always told me, mary, if you have to use the gun, cockit and it will go off a lot faster. >> the gunman after several tries gives up. robber number two, bigger and presumably stronger takes over. >> i know i was in deep, deep trouble. really deep trouble. i was in deep trouble. >> at that moment, mary says help comes from an unexpected place. she hears the voice of her late son ryan who died of a heart attack at 42. >> that's my guardian angel. he said, mama, take a step back and shoot the window out. and i did. i took a step back, and i shot the window out. i pulled the trigger.

>> the blast from mary's .38 caliber gun shatters the office window, tearing into the ceiling. shaken by mary's shot the gunmen flee the store. >> when i come to, i heard them holler out, this is not going to happen today. that's when they really took off. >> all three suspects are still at large, but have steered clear of trying another robbery at the store. michael wallace remains impressed with mary's shooting skills. >> i would say she was pretty good. we give her the name annie oakley. >> but for mary todd, it's just another day at the office. >> i never did get nervous about it. i was doing my job. i always try to handle any situation in that store.

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