CINCINNATI, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A World War II veteran making his daily visit to his wife in a Cincinnati hospital was beaten in an attempted robbery in the parking lot.
Paul Browning's son said the assailant ended up helping Browning to his feet. The alleged attacker, Craig Phelps, 30, was later arrested and charged with attempted robbery and possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
"After he beat him down to the ground and tried to take his wallet, my dad let him know he wasn't going to get his wallet," Marvin Browning told WLWT-TV. "Then he reached down and helped lift him up and told him he was sorry and that he thought he was somebody else."
Family members said Browning, 86, who was attacked in the parking lot as he left Good Samaritan Hospital, simply drove home. He had been visiting his wife, Ilda, 89.
"He's just so tough, I wouldn't expect a little old man like that to take a punch the way he did," his grandson, Jimmy Browning Jr., said.
The family made him return to the hospital. Doctors treating Browning's facial injuries discovered a heart murmur and scheduled him for surgery Wednesday, so he was hospitalized along with his wife of 65 years.
