Three thugs attacked an ice cream truck driver with a baseball bat in an armed robbery yesterday and beat him severly in an attack that clearly justified the use of deadly force in response.

A man driving an ice cream truck was attacked by three suspects outside the Bella Vista Apartments.

The police reports says the suspects robbed Mamadou Bah, 54, of 480 dollars and then beat him.

Police said the incident happened around 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday.

Charra Terry witnessed the attack.

“It was sad, real, real sad to see,” Terry said.

Officers were told three males assaulted the victim. He was transported to a local hospital in non-critical condition.

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While the exact wording to justify the use of deadly force varies from state to state, the general principle is that citizens have the right to use deadly force to repeal a deadly force attack on themselves or a third party.

In this incident, 54-year-old ice cream truck operator Mamadou Bah is outnumbered 3-1 and his attackers are using a baseball bat against him in an armed robbery. If Bah had a concealed carry permit and shot the man swinging the bat at him he would have clearly been legally justified in this attack captured on camera.

Depending on the laws in individual states, he may also have been legally justified in shooting the other criminals taking part in the armed robbery.

What may surprise some people is that Bah is not the only person who had the option of using a firearm to defend him from this attack. Third party self-defense, though rarely implemented, is legal in most jurisdictions. A legally-armed citizen in the same vantage point as the cameraman would be legally justified almost anywhere in shooting the bat-wielding criminal through the side or back to save Bah from this attack.

The attacker appears to have been aiming the bat at Bah’s head in an attack that could have easily crippled or killed him.

Bah’s arm was broken attempting to block one of these violent swings.

The ice cream truck driver, who has no criminal record of any kind, can obtain a concealed carry permit in the state of Tennessee and carry a firearm upon his person or in his vehicle as he works.

I’d strongly suggest that he do so before returning to work.