Aussie man Steve Middleton, 50, awoke to a ruckus at his home in Gold Coast, Australia. It was 4:30 a.m. and someone was rummaging through his car.
Crikey.
When he discovered he was being burglarized, he wasted no time getting fully dressed.
“I was naked; I woke up, found a pair of underpants, threw ’em on, ran outside, scared one of them — managed to tackle him,” Middleton told Nine News.
WARNING: The following video contains footage that some viewers may find disturbing
Aussie man fights off 5 attackers in his underwear pic.twitter.com/6ZrSlyFJ8J
— Victor MacNamara (@VictorMacNamar2) December 28, 2022
Middleton, looking through the curtains, first thought it was his daughter’s partner going through the car. But when he saw another head rearing out of his other vehicle, he realized he was being robbed, he told The Courier Mail.
A video captured Middleton grabbing onto the alleged thief by his shirt as they ran into the road.
Middleton did not know, however, accomplices idled in two cars just up the street. The two vehicles, a Mazda and BMW, were reportedly stolen.
While holding onto the first alleged thief, an accomplice dressed in white approached Middleton, cutting his hand with a knife before fleeing.
Shortly after, a third accomplice, wearing a white head covering and armed with a bat, approached the brave family man.
“Once the bat came out I tried to use the young fella I was holding onto as my little shield,” Middleton told Nine News.
The assailants eventually fled as Middleton chased them back to their cars. One of them was now shirtless, as Middleton appeared to be holding the thief’s shirt, consequently leveling the sartorial playing field.
Middleton’s only injuries were the cut on his hand and a stubbed toe, which he reportedly said hurt worse than the hand.
Apparently, he had prior plans of fishing that morning.
“As soon as the coppers came through and took the report I said ‘Am I right to go fishing yet?’ But we still had to wait for forensics to come through and do the fingerprints,” he told The Courier Mail.
The Middleton family reportedly had a big Christmas just the day before. He mentioned being “dusty as hell,” as he fought the would-be robbers. A quick online search reveals that “dusty,” when used as Australian slang, means hungover.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time he and his family have been targeted.
In 2017, Middleton, his wife and daughters were victims of a home invasion. One daughter was held at gun point while the other was punched in the face, The Courier Mail reported.
“That was pretty hard core,” Middleton said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.