Sheriff's deputies on Tuesday arrested a Santa Fe man with a history of petty crime after a convenience store customer and a clerk thwarted his attempt to commit a snatch-and-grab robbery, police reported.

Victor Gonzales, 37, approached the clerk at the Giant gas station, 5741 Airport Road, between 9 and 10 p.m. and placed a package of M&Ms on the counter along with some money, the report says. As clerk Debra Royall put the money in the cash register, Gonzales "lunged" over the counter and tried to grab the money in the drawer, Royall said Wednesday.

She said she pushed the man's hands away, yelled for him to stop and closed the drawer before he could take anything. Gonzales then knocked over a display of roses while he tried to get out the door, Royall said.

Ronnie Flores, a 30-year-old Santa Fe man, was coming out of the store's bathroom when he saw Gonzales grab for the money, according to the police report. Flores — who is 6 feet 1 inch tall, 180 pounds — yelled to Gonzales to stop, then ran after him when Gonzales — who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, 160 pounds — started to flee, the report said.

Flores told deputies that he grabbed Gonzales, punched him, tackled him to the ground and held him while a store employee called police. Royall said she saw Flores take him to the ground but missed most of the scuffle because it took place in the darkness of the parking lot.

She said she went outside to see if Flores needed help. Gonzales, who may or may not have been knocked out briefly by Flores' punch, then began to stir, Royall said.

"He started complaining about his leg," she said. "I told him to stay put and that the police were on their way. I tried to keep him down without using force."

However, Gonzales, who had a bloody nose, rose uncertainly to his feet, stumbled into a trash can and staggered toward his Jeep Cherokee, Royall said. No one tried to stop him, she said.

She got a perfect view of his license plate as he drove out of the parking lot, wrote down the number and gave it to deputies who arrived soon after, Royall said.

Deputies tracked Gonzales to a residence in the 1200 block of Senda del Valle, where a young boy answered the door, according to the police report. The boy, who looked scared, told the deputy his parents were home and that his father "had been beat up by his friends," according to an arrest statement filed Wednesday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

The deputy entered the home to check on Gonzales' condition and found him lying face-down on his bed, the police report says.

"I immediately noticed a large abrasion on his nose," Deputy Solomon Romero wrote in his report. "Victor stated that he had been beat up at a gas station."

Romero read Gonzales his rights, but said Gonzales didn't understand them because he was "too drunk," the report says.

Romero then took Gonzales back to the Giant station, where a clerk positively identified him as the would-be robber, according to the report. He was charged with attempted strong-arm robbery.

Online court records show that Gonzales pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in 1996, driving while intoxicated in 1998 and larceny in 2002. In March, he was charged with robbery, conspiracy and escape from a police officer, though the case was dismissed by the District Attorney's Office, records state.

Attempts to reach Flores on Wednesday were not successful.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.