Clerk Foils Robbery with Bag of Empanadas

Police say a clerk in New Mexico foiled a robbery last week when she hit the culprit on the back of the head with a package of empanadas, a type of Latin American pastry.

Police told The Deming Headlight that the masked man didn't say a word when he grabbed the cash register at Amigo's Mexican Food in Deming and tried to flee.

Deming police Capt. Brandon Gigante says the man dropped the register when the clerk threw the pastries and hit him.

Barbara Orquiz, who owns Amigo's with her husband, Arnold, says the cash register's cord got caught when the man tried to take it. The clerk saw him grab it, screamed and got him with the empanadas.

Orquiz says the man was covering his head as he ran away.