A recent brazen kidnapping attempt may leave many asking how to protect their children.
Video surveillance shows a 30-year-old man dragging a 13-year-old girl across a Florida dollar store floor as her mother holds on to her for dear life.
The suspect fled following the tug of war and was eventually caught minutes later by an off-duty police officer.
"The same training methods that that off-duty officer used, that he employed, to change that situation around, that's available to any civilian,” said Eric Siley.
Siley is president of Self-Defense Global KCand has trained in martial arts for 30 years, specializing in Krav Maga.
“Knowing how to defend yourself is a skill that doesn't take years and years to build,” he said.
Siley has trained thousands of parents in self-defense and says the biggest rule in protecting your kids is learning how to protect yourself first.
"If you can't defend yourself, if someone tries to take one of your kids, you're gonna have a very difficult time dealing with that issue,” he said.
Siley recommends taking self-defense training that involves a resisting training partner.
"What I recommend that anyone who wants real self-defense training, that they choose a functional system, something like Krav Maga, something like mixed martial arts, where you're working against a resisting training partner. Contact training is safe. It can be fun. There's no better work out that you can do,” he said.
It’s always best to try to diffuse any encounter first. However, if that doesn’t work the first defense should be an attempt to remove yourself from the attacker.
If all else fails, other common self-defense tips include:
- Being as loud as possible, drawing attention
- Striking pressure points such as the eyes, nose, groin or knees
- Using everyday objects such as keys, pens or hairspray
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
