The mother of a man who police said attempted to rob a Starbucks in California, but was thwarted by a Good Samaritan, reportedly said her son plans to sue because the hero used "excessive force."

The video of the July robbery went viral. Police released the footage showing Cregg Jerri, 58, struggling with a would-be robber in a Transformers mask who tried to stage a hold-up with a knife and toy gun at a Starbucks in Fresno.

Jerri, at one point, approaches the robber from behind and bashes him over the head with a chair. Eventually the two hit the ground and grapple. Police said Jerri was stabbed in the neck as he tried to grab the knife.

They said when Jerri took the knife away, he stabbed the robber several times. Police said Ryan Flores, 30, was the man in the mask.

"The guy, in my opinion, went from a Good Samaritan to a vigilante," Pamela Chimienti, Flores’ mother, told KSEE-TV. "Stabbing somebody that many times, it doesn't take that many stab wounds to get somebody to succumb to you."

Mark Flores, the man's father, told the Fresno Bee: “I understand he (his son) robbed the store but (Jerri) stabbed my son 17 times."

The Fresno police chief reportedly called the report of the lawsuit “ludicrous.”

Flores, who is currently in jail, did not confirm the lawsuit to the Fresno Bee.

“I don’t like to judge people, but that’s a lot of stab wounds,” he said.