Rolling against crime.

Robert O'Neal is in some ways a stereotypical "tough guy" New Jerseyite. He is the son of a retired Trenton police detective and a member of Local 68 of the Trenton Ironworkers Union. If he had been a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one could easily imagine him joining Jeremy Glick and Todd Beamer in their highly publicized "Let's Roll!" attempt to take down the al-Qaeda terrorists.

On the evening of November 21, O'Neal noticed a suspicious car following him as he drove home. As a single, 54-year-old father of two teenage girls, he became concerned for their safety. He quickly escorted the girls, 16 and 17, into the house, then went outside to lock up his Dodge Durango. Four teen-aged hoodlums then closed in on him. The leader of the group, Jose Alvarez, 19, an escapee who had been sent to a correctional facility for armed robbery, pulled a gun on O'Neal and demanded money. O'Neal handed over a case containing some credit cards and, he thought, $1,500 in cash. (The cash, fortunately, turned out not to have been with the cards.) When O'Neal was asked by a reporter from WPVI TV in Philadelphia how afraid he was, he replied: "Very, very. They put guns in my face and threatened to kill me and rape my daughters."

Alvarez and his confederates fled in a station wagon driven by Kyle Gibson, and O'Neal pursued the getaway car in his own SUV. He explained in the interview: "I wanted to get my property back and they knew where I lived. I was afraid they were going to come back."

Alvarez fired several shots at O'Neal from a rear window, and O'Neal rammed the back of their car twice, and both cars swerved off the road, coming to rest on the highway's grassy median strip.

The other suspects fled, but Alvarez stayed behind and starting firing shots at O'Neal. The single father ducked for cover under the steering wheel, then put his SUV in motion and drove into the gunman, who died from the injuries received.

Lt. Joseph Valdora, vice president of the Trenton Superior Officers Association, told reporters: "[O'Neal] stared evil down ... it's in his genes. I can see where he got [his courage]." (Valdora was referring to O'Neal's police detective father; he explained that this relationship made O'Neal an "extended family member.")

"He was not going to be a victim," Valdora said. "Unfortunately things turned out the way they did ... but he felt he had to protect his family."