A have-a-go hero who sprinted after a thief before tripping him after he swiped a boy's Segway said he made a "split second" decision to give chase because he was angered by what he saw.
Jermaine Beckford, 32, was walking with his nine-year-old son Danton in Grange Road, Bermondsey when he spotted the thief clutching the gadget running around the corner of Fendall Street.
Turning around, Mr Beckford broke out into a run, stretching out a foot to send the other man tumbling, before confronting him in the middle of the street.
The incident was captured on film by motorcyclist László Csőke as he passed by and has racked up more than 483,000 views on Youtube since it was uploaded.
On Friday, Mr Beckford, a finance advisor at the Car Loan Centre in Harrow, told the Standard he decided to chase the thief, who he estimated was about 16, because he was angered by what he witnessed.
He said before he began a new career, he worked for a fitness charity to help transform the lives of young people in order to prevent them from falling into trouble.
He said: "I normally take my son to breakfast club before school but on that day he wanted to go to the cafe instead so on another day I wouldn't have been there.
"It was my boy who nudged me to say there was a man running down the street. When I turned round I could tell he was out of breath and out of control.
"From that I made a split second decision to chase him.
"I gave him a sweep then asked him "why are you doing this?" I was angry to see a young black boy doing that."
As the Segway spilled into the middle of the road, it was scooped up by its thankful owner who Mr Beckford said followed him before he said thanks for retrieving the segway.
Mr Beckford added: "The victim was only about 15 and the sad thing was that he had only been in the country a short time. He was from Dubai.
"Afterwards he followed us to the cafe where he said thanks and told us he would only play with his Segway inside the house."
Scotland Yard was approached for a comment.
Earlier this month, police confirmed Segway boards – which are hands-free versions of the traditional Segway scooters – were illegal to ride on pavements under 180-year-old legislation
