Halifax driver disarms and, er, subdues gun-toting man
You’d think a man named Nevin Slawter wouldn’t need a nickname. But the 43-year-old’s buddies at Bob’s/Blue Bell Taxi in Dartmouth, N.S. are calling him Rambo after a Stallone-worthy demonstration of grit and strength in the wee hours of Monday morning. Slawter had stopped to consult a map when his fare muttered something unintelligible and pulled a sawed-off shotgun. In a blink, Slawter had grabbed the gun and was wrestling the man, taking his foot of the brake in the process. At that point, the car began rolling, bouncing across a lawn and colliding with a tree. The impact broke the windshield, and the two tangled men rolled out the car door, still fighting for control of the gun. Slawter won and, when the man tried to get up, clubbed the assailant on the melon with the weapon. That, as you might imagine, was the end of the matter – not long afterward, the police showed up. Slawter’s has become something of a local celebrity, and is doing a nice job playing his tough-guy part. “At 3 a.m.,” he shrugs, “you get all kinds of characters.”