Black Belt Taken Out By Pepper Spray in Robbery

Bill Mattocks

Bill Mattocks

Sr. Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
15,743
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Michigan
Well, he tried to help. Kudos for that at least.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Pepper+spray+takes+black+belt/4737526/story.html

A black-belt karate expert was no match for pepper spray used in a brazen jewelry-store heist Thursday in a Langley mall.
Mirek Mituta, a Mission karate instructor, was in the store looking at watches when six men began to rob the store.
"I saw three guys jump over the counter, and I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, they are robbing [the store],'" Mituta told The Province.
Mituta saw the robbers roughing up the women behind the counter, so he instantly sprang into action.
"I just jumped over the counter and grabbed the big guy in a headlock," he said.
Click to expand...
 
I commend him for trying to help the store clerk, but in turn he put his 2 year old daughter in harms way. There was pepper spray and shots fired, and 6 to 1. My thought would be my daughters safety first, then 911. Just a thought.
icon7.gif
 
seasoned said:
I commend him for trying to help the store clerk, but in turn he put his 2 year old daughter in harms way. There was pepper spray and shots fired, and 6 to 1. My thought would be my daughters safety first, then 911. Just a thought.
icon7.gif
Click to expand...

this is what bugs me about this.. no regard for the 2 year old in my opinion.. of course I was not there so I don't really know the circumstances. I have a 2 and 5 year olds, my first thought would have been what makes my kids safest... if it was to attack those guys then so be it.. but I am not sure if that was the case here.
 
Touch Of Death said:
Yep, that's the first thing you want to do against six guys. Put one in a headlock.:)
Click to expand...

No ****!!!! rank means nothing on the street and everyone is vulnerable to being hurt. Key is knowing what to do what the effects are of being hit, knifed or shot how much contact can you take before your out and what can you do with the least amount of effort to go on to the next guy with out hesitation or guilt?

There have been some very proficient people get hurt or killed by underestimating the ability of the attacker or making themselves vulnerable by being drunk or impared?

Came home real drunk one time and an ex girl friend was in my house tearing up the place I was in the kitchen I remember opening a cabinet door thought?, anyway and it hit my head and I went Wow that was a good hit, now actually she was hidding behind a door and hit me full force with the door creased my head nose to top I did not go out I am used to breaking bricks with my head but woke up next day sore neck major lump on my head? six months later she admitted what she did and we laughed but I thought Dude you better watch yourself she could have killed you. So much for being a black belt??

**** happens you need to train for that live for that or get off the porch from the big dogs!!! Or careful who the hell you sleep with or piss off ????????????/
 
From what I read... and from the comments... it looks like a case of over confidence in their MA abilities (okay... just a wee bit too much) and wanting to be a hero.
Agreed never DO anything that may jeopardize a child. He should've stayed by her side to ensure her safety first and foremost. If he was by himself then okay, play the hero and see what you can do against six guys wanting to rob a jewelry store... not just a convenience store but a jewelry store... big difference fella.

Mituta, a fifth-degree black belt, said he had never encountered pepper spray in his self-defence classes.
Click to expand...
Think he's going to incorporate it into his classes now??

Up to 10 people suffered the serious effects of the pepper spray, but no one was injured otherwise, and no shots were fired at the takedown, police said.
Click to expand...
How many people would have NOT been affected by the pepper spray had he thought about his daughter's safety and just played it cool?

That someone fired a gun says how serious these guys were in robbing the store. Doing it in a mall where there are potentially hundreds of witnesses... attest to not too bright planning. Smashing a display case to get some nice watches... :rolleyes: good way to get yourself cut and leave DNA evidence behind.

Of course I'll credit the BB in throwing a wrench into the guys plan by "springing into action" against them, it probably threw them into a panic and thereby rushed their time-table or screwed it up altogether.
 
People need to clear their headspace of the notion that blackbelt= fighting ability or self-defense expertise.
 
You would think that someone that had been doing martial arts long enough to earn a fifth degree black belt would have sense enough to not go after six armed thugs, especially with his child present as others have pointed out.
 
seasoned said:
I commend him for trying to help the store clerk, but in turn he put his 2 year old daughter in harms way. There was pepper spray and shots fired, and 6 to 1. My thought would be my daughters safety first, then 911. Just a thought.
icon7.gif
Click to expand...


A B S O L U T E L Y R I G H T ! ! !

That said if you do find to protect that daughters safety you must engage, a headlock is not on the menu! DEADLY FORCE IS!

you have 6 to 1 with a weapon? you must be sure she is dead or badly injured or you are before you try that one.. and if you are sure of that, well then DO maximum damage! preferably fatal or at least massive as fast as possible! NO QUARTER! It is time to go 110% with no mercy! Like the old Queen song lyrics said, "MAKE THE BED, LIGHT THE LIGHTS, LADY MERCY WONT BE HOME TONIGHT!"

other wise you just provably increased the danger to your daughter or who ever by a large amount in that kind of situation!! you will have massively escalated the level of danger when you moved, so make it count!
 
This was in Canada, a shot was fired no one killed or injured by it, and the good Samaritan was peppered sprayed. I moving there! Where am at and like many other American cities, that shot would have killed or injured the good Samaritan blackbelt. What criminal here uses pepper spray. In my pistol magazines, I read all the time stories of encounters law abiding citizens have with criminals. Many times you will read of a guy who will confront criminals at the crime scene when their wives or children are with them. None of these stories have people using a cell phone to call 911 after they have their family out of harms way. It is always a confrontation. in each story the guy had a choice to either assertively engage- like fighting with the criminal or passively act where they don't put themselves or loved ones at risk- like keep their distance and call the police. Each story the guy engages. In this situation, I don't think the good Samaritan up against a gang of 6 with a gun could have took them all- he was lucky, he was pepper sprayed. Agreed he was irresponsible for putting his child at risk.
 
Have to agree with the above. Having a child with him, his first priority should have been to get the child and himself to safety and notify 911.
 
Mituta, a fifth-degree black belt, said he had never encountered pepper spray in his self-defence classes.

"If they didn't have the pepper spray, I am sure I would have taken them all down," he said confidently.
Click to expand...

"Wait, you attacked wrong. Start over."
 
To risk quoting Hermione Granger:

What.

An.

Idiot.

"If they didn't have the pepper spray, I am sure I would have taken them all down," he said confidently.
Click to expand...

Good to see that reality and the 6:1 odds didn't impact his confidence or his fantasies.
 
That man's ego is writing checks his body can't cash. 6 to 1 odds, a two year old child, no immenent danger of anything other than a robbery happening and he decides to play the hero. He is a dumb*** that needs to learn the difference between fantasy land and reality. You'd think that blast of pepper spray would have done it, but I guess some people are slower at learning than others.
 
Not being there, it is more difficult to comment. And none of us know what we would do in a situation until we are in it.

But several things are strange: 6 men in a smash and grab at a mall, sort of unusual. Pepper spray as a weapon by a criminal? Clever idea, not common but has been heard of. Someone with a child attacking 6 men? But then we aren't told what was being done to the clerk. Putting the first one encountered in a headlock? Where does a karate practioner learn that?

At least no serious injuries apparently.
 
Nomad said:
To risk quoting Hermione Granger:

What.

An.

Idiot.



Good to see that reality and the 6:1 odds didn't impact his confidence or his fantasies.
Click to expand...


yep! and incompetent too!
 
This really comes down to a judgement call.

Persoanlly I can't see myself standing up for some corperate chain shop that has plenty of insurence and such to cover such a heist.

Then again, if I felt that anyone was truely in any danger, I would then act, but act with caution...Head locking a guy wouldn't be it...Although he probably thought that they weren't gonna get any kind of resistance.

If the bad guys were truely gonna shoot someone...they wouldn't have even brought the pepper spray. Most Theives don't want to fight..they just want the money and run, and I would bet that thats what the M.Aist thought in this situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

"May I honor you with my kata?"

Previous Thread

Young girl, karateka, fights off world-be rapist.

Next Thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top