What does “a portion of the person” mean? It means utilizing joint manipulations by adopting locking techniques that control your attacker’s leg, ankle, wrist, fingers, elbows or other parts. Add pressure points to the mix and you have options, especially when you are the most experienced individual on-site for an attack you are forced to mitigate and you will be relying on generally unskilled helpers from a crowd. Considering all of these options, a good place to start is the wrist takedown to a control hold.
Step 1: The Wrist Capture
The wrist capture can take place as any aggressive assault begins with a reach and grab. For example, as the attacker reaches for or aggressively grabs your left shoulder with his or her right hand, use your left hand to capture the back of your assailant’s hand with your thumb and wrap the thumb side and palm side of the upper wrist with your fingers. Begin to turn the attacker’s palm outward to your left as you mirror that grip with your right hand. This means your left thumb and right thumb land parallel on the back of your attacker’s hand. Your right fingers should wrap around the little-finger side of the wrist, grasping the palm-side of the wrist and forming a mirror grip of your left hand.
Step 2: Step Away and Isolate the Wrist
After taking control of the wrist, step back with your right foot to elongate your attacker’s arm away from his or her body. Isolate the wrist as you maintain pressure on the back of your assailant’s hand with your thumbs while simultaneously twisting his or her palm outward to your left. Keep the attacker’s hand at a height lower than your chest and higher than your waist.
Step 3: Step Outward to Facilitate Wrist Takedown
After taking that step back, you will have elongated your attacker’s arm and isolated his or her wrist. With this done, continue to maintain pressure on the back of the hand with your thumbs as you turn your attacker’s right wrist outward, to your left, and sweep your left foot to your left in a 90-to 180-degree arc. The greater the arc, the faster and harder he or she will fall. The elongation of the arm isolates and adds pressure to the wrist, and adding the sweeping arc will cause your assailant to drop to the ground.
Step 4: Disengage or Control
Once your attacker hits the ground, you can disengage. If you choose to control, one way to do so is to drop to a knee while maintaining control on the back of his or her hand. Secure the attacker’s triceps and elbow on the ground, keeping his or her forearm at a 90-degree angle to the biceps. By maintaining pressure downward with your thumbs on the back of his or her hand while establishing counter-pressure using the ground against your assailant’s triceps and elbow, you can control with pain compliance. Tell your assailant, “Stop fighting. I don’t want to fight with you.” If he or she complies, you can let up on the pressure.
Make sure to call out clearly so bystanders can hear you, “Call 911. This man just attacked me!”
When the police arrive, succinctly and calmly explain what happened. For example:
“This man attacked me and that woman over there. I am holding him to keep him from hurting anyone. What would you like me to do?”
Then immediately comply with arriving police officers’ requests.
It’s Nice to Have Options
If you practice these skills, the question you may face someday might be, “Do I allow myself to be assaulted by this unarmed assailant, or do I choose to take down and hold down this assailant?” Your life may depend on you choosing the correct option. As difficult as it may be to contemplate such a decision, consider this: When your life is on the line, isn’t it preferable to have options?
