A shocking video captured the moment a jiu-jitsu lawyer fought off a robber who tried to steal his phone while he was eating lunch at a Taco Bell in New York.
Kyle, 28, was enjoying a cheese quesadilla on a sunny Tuesday at the Taco Bell on Junction Blvd in Queens when the poacher tried to steal his phone.
Unbeknownst to the attacker, the lawyer had a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and repelled the attack.
Security camera footage showed Kyle immediately put the robber in a headlock and pushed him to the ground when he tried to grab his phone.
“He wanted my phone. He came up behind me and asked me for money or something. I said no and then he came back and lunged for my phone,” Kyle said in a Reddit post.
Kyle, 28, was enjoying a cheese quesadilla at the Taco Bell on Junction Blvd in Queens when a robber attempted to grab his phone with one hand and the other on the door handle to make a quick exit.
“He actually took a screenshot, so I have the exact time it happened.”
Kyle was eating at a counter by the door when the snitch tried to grab the man’s phone with one hand and the other on the door handle to quickly leave.
The 28-year-old maintained a strong grip and rose from his chair as he fought off the attacker.
He quickly put his arm around the robber, pushed him to the ground and grabbed his cell phone from the ground.
The attacker jumped off the ground as Kyle watched him leave the restaurant with bated breath waiting to see if he would continue to fight.
“He was like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’ I thought he just wanted my phone and wasn’t willing to fight anymore, so I let him go,” Kyle said.
Kyle used his purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to defend himself against the attack, putting the robber in a headlock and pushing him to the ground.
Kyle is an attorney who holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and began practicing in 2018.
‘The police never arrived, so if I had held him there he would probably still be there.
‘I’m a purple belt, I started in January 2018. What was going through my mind was probably thinking ‘oh shit, I have to take this guy down’, and then realising I could have been stabbed.’
New York City Police Department crime data shows that robbery, felony assault, petty and grand theft have all increased in the area where Taco Bell is located.
Robberies are up 42.2 percent so far this year, felony assaults are up 30.2 percent, grand larceny is up 6.7 percent and petty larceny is up 10.8 percent in the 115th Precinct.
