Police said a 71-year-old man grabbed a metal pipe and took on three young men who tried to rob him on Wooster Street Tuesday night.
According to police, the man was walking his dog at 10:30 p.m. near Plumb Memorial Library when the trio approached.
One the suspects pulled out a handgun — later determined to be a BB gun — and demanded money.
The victim grabbed a nearby metal pipe — and the would-be robbers high-tailed it out of there, according to police.
Canine Officer Chris Nugent and his dog, Yeager, tracked the suspects to the area of Coram Avenue and Elm Street.
Two of the suspects — Michael Surace, 18, of Torrington and Melvin Perry Smith, Jr., of Torrington — gave up.
The third suspect — 23-year-old Darrell Bates, of Derby — decided to run.
Bad move.
Nugent and Yeager, accompanied by Officer Michael McClain, caught up with Bates off White Street near the New England Stair Co., according to a police statement.
Bates did not listen to police commands, which caused him to be bitten by the dog — and Tased, police said.
The three suspects are each charged with branding a facsimile firearm, first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, first-degree criminal attempt to commit robbery and second-degree threatening.
They were arraigned in front of Judge Eddie Rodriguez, Jr. Wednesday afternoon at Superior Court on Elizabeth Street in Derby.
Bonds for Bates and Smith were set at $150,000 each.
Bates has a criminal record and is on probation, according to a statement made in court by a bail commissioner.
Surace, meanwhile, was released to the custody of his mother, but not before Rodriguez told the young man he had to be home by 9 p.m., every night of the week.
“Look at me,” the judge said. “That’s not from her, that’s from me.”
All three are due back in court Sept. 9.
