Because the public often thinks trained fighters can restrain an aggressor without Injuring him, martial artists need to carefully plan their self-defense strategy before an incident takes piece.

As a trained martial artist, you owe it to yourself to learn the law and practice techniques that will enable you to defend yourself on the street and in the courtroom. Unfortunately, many instructors teach only the physical and mental skills needed to "devastate any opponent" – in other words, they create a person capable of inflicting great violence and destruction on others without any regard for what's legally or morally right.

Imagine that some sloppy drunk has just started hurling insults at you while you're out with your friends. You respond with confrontation-management techniques to de-escalate the situation. But before you know it, you're defending yourself against his fists and feet. You drop him hard with a strike to the face and a roundhouse kick to the legs, sending him sprawling in pain. Minutes later, the cops show up-along with an ambulance because the other guy is lying on the ground moaning and groaning. The police take a report, and you go home to live happily ever after.

A few months later, you receive a summons. It appears the drunk is suing you to pay his medical expenses and compensate him for pain and suffering. You go to court, and the slob who attacked you is nowhere to be found. In his place is some proper looking fellow you hardly recognize. He's wearing a suit, and his hair is cut short and styled. He even has a cane to help him walk with the limp he supposedly acquired from your roundhouse kick. As if that isn't bad enough, he has photographs of his injuries and a stack of medical bills. Behind him are his wife, two young daughters and 80-year-old infirm grandmother, all of whom will testify to the hardships they've endured as a result of his inability to work during the past few months. Even worse, he's brought two witnesses who lie through their teeth, telling the court that you started the fight and he was just an innocent victim of a savage beating by a trained martial arts killer.
Scary, isn't it? Fortunately, such incidents are few and far between, but they do happen. If you find yourself in one, you'd better get a good attorney because you'll be in for a battle. Contrary to popular belief, justice isn't always about right and wrong; it's often about who can convince the judge and jury of what actually happened.

So how do you deal with such a situation? First, think ahead. If you see an altercation unfolding, remain conscious of how you appear to others. Don't say or do anything unnecessary or threatening. Make sure it's obvious to them that you're doing everything in your power to avoid violence and that the other guy is the predator. Use force only as a last resort, and even then use only enough to stop the attacker or flee.

If you're forced to defend your actions in court, remember that the judge and jury were not there at the time and that it's hard for ordinary words to convey to them the urgency of the event. Few if any people in the courtroom will have experienced such a volatile situation, and they'll probably have nothing to relate to except what they've seen in the movies and on television.

Consequently, people often have unrealistic expectations of how a trained fighter should react. In law enforcement cases, the jury often expects the officer to shoot the attacker in the leg as the suspect comes flying at him with a razor-sharp kitchen knife in hand. They don't understand that not only is it difficult to hit a moving target – even at close range – but that nothing short of a head shot may stop a determined attacker.

Similarly, when people find out you're a martial artist, they'll expect you to have some magical ability to control a violent person with a flick of your wrist without have to really hurt him. They think of Kwai Chang Caine did it for years in the Kung Fu TV series, and you should be able to do the same thing.

The point is, everything you say and do during a conflict will be re-examined and used by attorneys on both sides as they spin the events in their favor. The time to learn about the consequences of using force is before it happens because you may not like the education you receive after the fact.

About the author: Richard Ryan is the founder of Dynamic Combat™ and the designer of the Tactical Defense Training™ system for law enforcement. He has more than 30 years of experience in martial arts, combative firearms and weapons training. For more information, call (800) 945-4387.

Go to Black Belt Magazine

Return to News Index

^ TOP