Police Chief Tom Jackson said four shoplifters at the Home Depot at 10930 New Halls Ferry Road were leaving the store about 3 p.m. when one of them swiped a cellphone from a hot dog vendor at the front entrance. The thieves were walking out of the store with work gloves and a hammer when one of the shoplifters grabbed the cellphone off a counter while the vendor wasn’t looking.

The vendor then chased after the thieves and tackled one of them to the ground with help from a customer, police said. One of the shoplifters used a ball-peen hammer he stole to strike the hot dog vendor in the head, Jackson said. The customer helping the vendor was struck in the side with the hammer. Police said that bystander wasn’t badly hurt.

The vendor, 45, was bloodied and seriously injured, and taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, Jackson said. He is expected to survive.  Read more at STLToday.com