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Spring Break Gone Bad

Tyler Hatfield had big plans for spring break in Cancun Mexico. He didn't expect to be looking in the barrel of a gun.

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Reporter: John Knicely

Spring Break Gone Bad

Tyler Hatfield had big plans for spring break in Cancun Mexico. He didn't expect to be looking in the barrel of a gun.

Hatfield told Channel 6 News, "I thought it was going to be the time of my life."

Everything changed on the first night in Cancun when Tyler
decided to briefly leave his group.

"I didn't think that I needed to be careful at all," he said. "I thought I was going to be safe just going right across the street."

Instead, from out of nowhere, came a blow to Hatfield's head and the lights went out.

When he woke up, Hatfield was in the front passenger seat of a moving car with his assailant behind the wheel.

"The entire time he had a gun pointed at me just kind of by his lap," Hatfield said. "It was just to make sure that I didn't make any fast moves or anything."

The plan was to drive Tyler around the city of 500-thousand and cash in at ATM machines.

By chance, Tyler had a debit card that was no longer active.

Hatfield said, "I threw the one that did work out the window so that he wouldn't be able to get money out of my ATMS.."

Eventually the frustrated thief gave up and knocked Tyler unconscious again, took his wallet and passport, and then dumped him on the street.

Hatfield said, "I woke up with nothing so I had to call my mom"

Rosalie Hatfield said, "I was in shock and knew he had to have a passport to come home."

Rosalie managed the paperwork from Omaha and it was a mountain of trouble. It was tedious work to deal with a foreign government that needs at least 48 hours to reissue a passport.

The U.S. consulate had to get involved, a courier was hired to deliver paperwork to another city two hours away and money was wired.

Three days went by along with a Mexican holiday and finally two hours before Tyler's flight was scheduled to leave Cancun, he had a passport in hand.

Now the experience almost seems surreal for Hatfield. "It's amazing what you think about during a life and death situation," he said.

Tyler now offers this advice for spring breakers: "Don't leave the resort, stay in groups, and don't trust strangers."

In retrospect Rosalie is glad she had her son separate his money before the trip. When Tyler was robbed, some of his money was in the room safe at his hotel.

Rosalie added, "I recommend that travelers make copies of their passports and I.D.s and keep those separate on the trip." "That way they at least have a start on replacing their documents if something happens to the original."

For more travel tips: http://www.travelweekly.com/uploadedFiles/MEXICOMAP4.pdf
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis_pa_tw_1168.html