Read and enjoy. BTW: For the record, the “globeandmail” is considered the paper of record in Canada.
Cheers.
SK
From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040824/THIEF24//?query=robbery
Black belt makes thug buckle
Burly intruder proved no match for tae kwon do ace who caught him
By GRAEME SMITH
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - Page A5
The burly would-be thief who broke into Wade Mitchell’s office probably didn’t think the 51-year-old seemed like a dangerous guy.
The business owner who confronted an intruder in his office in Yorkton, Sask., on Saturday afternoon stands only 5 feet 6 inches. He weighs 165 pounds.
But perhaps the 17-year-old should have read the sign outside the storefront advertising Kee’s Tae Kwon Do before deciding to fight his way past the 5th Dan black belt.
“He was heavier and stronger than me, but he didn’t have any technique,” Mr. Mitchell said, chuckling.
“By the time the RCMP got here, he went away quite willingly. I think he was happy to get away from me at that point.”
The fight started some time after 3:30 p.m. while Mr. Mitchell was renovating the second floor of his martial arts school, building an apartment for himself and his black-belt wife.
The front door was locked, but his neighbour noticed a young man sneaking in the back door and called Mr. Mitchell’s cell phone.
Mr. Mitchell went downstairs to his office, where he said he caught the young man unplugging a laptop and printer.
He told the teenager to stay there and started to dial 911 on his cellphone.
The youth tried to barge past Mr. Mitchell, who threw him into a series of painful wrist locks and choke holds during a 15-minute melee that spilled out of the office and into the building’s lobby.
Passersby stopped to stare at the middle-aged man wearing work clothes and a carpenter’s belt, sparring with a bigger man.
“I think they figured we were just working out or practising,” Mr. Mitchell said. “I shouted at them to call 911.”
Mr. Mitchell, who has 25 years of martial-arts training, said he didn’t want to injure the teenager. He only toyed with him, he said, grabbing the collar of his T-shirt to choke him.
“He was too dizzy and weak, but he was still trying to punch me,” he said. “He got two hits on me, but I just started laughing.”
By the time police arrived, Mr. Mitchell said, the teenager had given up. He was sitting passively on a wrought-iron bench in the building’s lobby.
RCMP Staff Sergeant Gerry Gourlay said the young offender appeared in court yesterday, charged with breaking and entering. He didn’t know how the teenager pleaded.
“My friends are all laughing about this,” Mr. Mitchell said. “One of them accused me of hiring this guy for advertising purposes. But I think [the teenager] just didn’t see the sign out front.”
