WATCH: Teen employee uses jiu-jitsu training to take down suspected thief at gym
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — An Indianapolis teenager used his mixed martial arts skills to take down a suspected thief who barged into a gym earlier this week.
According to the gym’s manager, the 18-year-old employee at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Indianapolis confronted the man who was allegedly trying to break into his car outside.
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Surveillance video from inside the gym shows Gavin Archer opening the door to talk to the man when the suspect lunged at him.
Archer quickly used his combat skills to take the man down.
“Due to Gavin’s years of martial arts and jiu-jitsu training, he was able to minimize the strikes that were being thrown at him … securing the man’s back, and choking him unconscious to eliminate the immediate threat of danger so he could call police,” Ian Pomfret, the gym’s manager, wrote on Instagram.
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Later that day, the suspect was found in a nearby hospital and was taken into custody.
According to Promfret, Archer is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu. The teen credited the gym for his training— “Who knows what would have happened,” Archer wrote on Instagram.
The suspect’s identity and charges are unknown.
“THIS is why Jiu Jitsu saves lives,” Pomfret added.
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