Brave or stupid? You decide.

Via Borderstan, this interesting piece from the weekend:

The victim of a Saturday-night mugging on the 900 block of U Street NW fought back with the help of two friends and caught the mugger, according to a friend who saw the incident.

Seems a would-be mugger picked the wrong group of guys to accost on U Street on Saturday night. After snatching something from one of them, the mugger took off east on U Street--followed by the three men. They caught up with him in front of Nellie's, where they proceeded to administer a beat-down in front of cheering bystanders.

Now, there is a part of me that relishes this. After all, muggings have been plaguing our neighborhood in increasing numbers for some time, and there's a certain sense of justice in seeing one of them "caught in the act." Who knows--if it had been me, I might have done the same thing. God knows it can be infuriating to have your purse or wallet taken forcibly by some thug.

But this could have ended much worse for all parties. Luckily for the three men who gave chase, the mugger was not armed; otherwise this incident might have become a homicide. (Although it seems that even homicides aren't attracting that much ire from prosecutors these days...) As it was, it made for a nice story of vigilante justice--but what about next time?

So what do you think: were the actions of the three man vigilante crew an act of justice-seeking bravery, or spur-of-the-moment stupidity?