Watch out for douchebags trying to clothes line you

To the OP
Nice work on anticipating. I would ask you to actually properly report that at the station, as a crime, if you can bring yourself to make the time to do it. Attempted robbery? Good that you asked some rozzers to look into it, but needs a proper report.

Sorry about your pal - nasty shit.

1+ report it asap, the more people report this for the police, the higher the chance they'll do something about it.