Richland Hills veteran puts up fight against carjacker

RICHLAND HILLS, Texas - A 69-year-old Navy veteran refused to back down when a man stole his wallet and his truck at a gas station in Richland Hills.

Every morning, Allan Huddleston says he goes to get coffee from the McDonald’s near 820 and 121 and then goes to get a newspaper at the gas station next door. It was during his daily routine the morning of January 15 when police say he was robbed and carjacked.

Despite the veteran fighting off his attacker, the carjacker got away and dragged Huddleston as he sped off.

"No doubt in my mind he's done this before,” Huddleston said. “This isn't his first rodeo."

Surveillance video shows it all. A man approached Huddleston at a Shell Gas Station along Airport Freeway in Richland Hills and asks for money and cigarettes. In reality, the man wanted his truck.

"He's in my truck trying to drive off,” Huddleston recalled. “So I reach in there, and I grab him around his neck in a head hold, I guess you'd call it. I drag him out of the truck."

Together, they fell to the ground fighting. The carjacker broke away, but he didn’t’ have the keys. The truck thief wouldn’t give up — but neither did Huddleston. Eventually, the robber was able to steal his wallet and keys.

Huddleston, who served in Vietnam, was dragged yards and broke a bone in his leg. Police say it's fortunate the suspect wasn't armed.

"He put up a fight,” said Richland Hills Police Captain Sheena McEachran. “And I would expect nothing less from our veterans out there."

“I'm lucky. That's what the doctor said,” he admitted.

But Huddleston hopes the carjacker won’t be so lucky.

"By golly, partner. There's no doubt in my mind you've done this before,” Huddleston said. “And I guarantee it'll catch up to you if you haven't been caught yet. But you will be caught. You're a sorry individual."

Police say there were several other people at the Shell Gas Station that morning that were also approached by the suspect. They have a description and surveillance but still need to identify him.

Police did find Huddleston's truck in a neighborhood in Fort Worth.