Originally Posted by
ibis_ti
If you sprayed him, he'd probably sue you for assault and win. Unless he threatened you with his knife, which he did do to the security guard.
They did catch him(or his bike anyway) because he was an idiot and couldn't unlock his own bike.
In America, it is legal in every state that I know of to use force to make a citizen's arrest to keep the criminal in the area long enough for the police to arrive. This criminal could try to sue in civil court afterwards but he won't win.
Now if this happened in the UK then things are different. They coddle their criminals more there.