"Bother me and I'm gonna fight," Delores Dolan said.
Her friends call her Dee, and she is no shrinking violet.
She's tough, and at 78, she was not about to be the victim of a robbery.
Police say 18-year-old Darwin Rivera found that out the hard way. On Tuesday, the Clifton grandmother was the Rivera's target. She was at work in a back room office of the waterproofing company she works for.
Authorities say Rivera walked in and, at first, said he wanted a job. But Delores says he was really after something else.
She says he slapped her, demanding money, and threatened her with a knife.
"I looked him straight in the face and said 'I could be your grandmother,'" she said.
It was only a matter of seconds, and through it all, she held her ground, refusing to break down.
"What was I supposed to do?" she asked. "Cry? I didn't cry...I was screaming, hoping that the fellow that worked in the shop would be able to hear me."
Eventually, people did. But the suspect escaped with some of Dee's jewelry.
Dee's encounter with the suspect didn't end there. About 20 minutes later, police picked up Rivera and brought him back so that she could identify him. When she says she's a fighter. She's not exaggerating.
"I have grandchildren older than him," she said. "I wanted to slap him around a little bit. They wouldn't let me."
By then, police had learned what Delores' husband Tom has known for years.
"She don't back down to anybody," he said.
Not even to an alleged robber 60 years younger.
"Don't get me wrong, I was shaking," she said. "I'm not made of iron."
But she is tough as nails.
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WEB PRODUCED BY: Bill King
NEW YORK AND TRI-STATE AREA NEWS
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