Good Samaritan's dog scares off would-be roadside robbers in Yarmouth County

A man who thought he was stopping to help a woman on the side of a busy road in Brooklyn, N.S., earlier this week was brazenly attacked by two men in broad daylight — but his dog ended up chasing off the would-be robbers.

Yarmouth RCMP said the incident happened around 6 p.m. AT Monday on Hardscratch Road, a well-travelled thoroughfare that connects with Highway 103.

Cpl. Chris Marshall said the man in his 50s was driving along when he spotted a woman standing near a car on the side of the road. She was flagging him down. 

He stopped to see if she needed help, but as soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, he was rushed by two men who popped out from the ditch and attacked him, said Marshall.

One of the robbers had a weapon, although Marshall could not say what kind of weapon it was.

The victim's dog was able to escape his vehicle and attacked the man with the weapon. The suspects then abandoned the robbery and piled into a older small grey car before fleeing the scene.

"It's a time of day you would expect to see a lot of people on the road. It's not 2 o'clock in the morning in a back alley," said Marshall, adding that he did not know what type of dog it was. 

"It's an odd time to do something if you're hoping not to get caught."

Police asking witnesses to reach out

Marshall said there were cars driving by at the time, and the Mounties are asking anyone who may have witnessed the attempted robbery to contact police.

"You might have been seeing something you thought was innocuous at the time, but it might just be that little bit of information that our officers need in order to further the investigation," he said.

Police are on the hunt for a thin woman with brown curly hair and sunglasses. They say one of the men had heavily tattooed arms and at least one had a heavily tattooed leg.

The RMCP said they are also aware of social media posts circulating about multiple similar incidents having happened on Hardscratch Road in recent months, but Marshall said Monday's incident is the only one that's been reported to police.