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Health & Fitness

Cook County Prosecutor Steps in to Defend Others

A Cook County Prosecutor steps in to defend a couple he saw being harassed by two thugs.

There was a story last week about an unnamed Cook County prosecutor who came to the aid of two people being harassed by two teenage males.  This Good Samaritan clearly did a great thing by helping these people out; however, as the old saying goes, “no good deed goes unpunished.”  The story stated that the prosecutor saw what was going on and told the two aggressors to stop harassing the couple, which they did; problem is, they decided to take on the prosecutor instead, and immediately rushed him. 

The story reports that the prosecutor, a 31 year old male, 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, managed to put a choke hold on one attacker, using him as a shield to keep the other attacker at bay.  While this apparently worked initially, the situation quickly deteriorated when the prosecutor slipped and the two attackers started beating him while he was on the ground – using a beer bottle to hit him and a sharpened instrument to stab him.

This story provides a cautionary tale for those who chose to step in and defend others.  And if you think you might consider doing the same for someone else one day, then there are a few things you can learn from this encounter.

First, if you decide to intervene, you must expect that some or all of the other parties, even those who initially seemed to need help, may turn on you.  I have no idea if this prosecutor thought that by yelling at the two thugs that they might decide to attack him, but for anyone considering helping others in the future, it is worth thinking about, as the results could be disastrous.  In this case the story represented that the couple escaped and the prosecutor, while badly beaten, was going to recover.  The end result could have been much worse.

Secondly, one point that stuck out in my mind was that the prosecutor allegedly used a choke hold.  There could be many reasons for this, such as: he had a wrestling background or he just ended up in that position after initially deflecting the first attack.  Whatever the case may be, it is not a defense I would have chosen to use, if given an option.  This is not meant as a criticism of the prosecutor, since I have no reason to denigrate his courageous actions, but rather an attempt to try and learn from what actually happened.

When I first began learning about defending against multiple attackers, the instructors taught me to quickly defend against one attacker, and move on to the next one.  We were told to use the other person as a shield, when possible, but only briefly, and then pushing that person into the other attacker to either give yourself time to flee, or to disrupt the other’s attack, hopefully injuring them both in the process.

Since then, my training has taught me that when you face multiple attackers (a deadly situation that would usually provide you with a legal basis for using deadly force to defend yourself), you want to strike the one closest to you with the most devastating strike you can manage (think eye, throat, or groin), and then move on to the next attacker.  You do not want to defend against one attacker, do minimal damage to him, and then move on to someone else, only to find you have to face the same person again.  This is, of course, easier said than done.  The only way to get a feel for this is to practice this scenario with two to four attackers (all wearing proper protection of course), to start getting the idea of how people might move, the fleeting amount of time you have to strike someone, and how quickly you can be overwhelmed by the attackers, especially if they also have weapons and are intent on doing you harm.

It is also important to remember that if you get taken to the ground, or just lose your footing and fall, you must fight hard to get back up, since being on the ground while getting stomped and kicked, by one or more people, can cause life threatening injuries very quickly.  This is another aspect of self-defense that must be practiced regularly, so you instinctively know how to react should you go down, and the best ways to get back up.

I send my regards and congratulations to this everyday citizen who risked his life to save others, and hope that the people he saved are thankful, and that the two thugs are quickly found and brought to justice.

Remember to always be alert, train hard, and stay safe.

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