Horrifying Mall Attack

As readers of this blog know, I will occasionally comment about violent incidents caught on video. I aim to glean lessons from the video and pass along my observations. Such is the case with a video of a violent mall attack.

Recently, a violent attack at a Brampton mall caught my attention. Please watch the video below first.

Before I go any further, you should know that I will not comment on politically charged issues related to this violent incident. Feel free to read the comments below the video on YouTube, and you’ll get an idea of the politics surrounding this.

I am not interested in the political issues whatsoever—zero interest.

I am much more interested in analyzing all aspects of this episode, which seems like something out of a Law and Order episode.

Caveat: the backstory to this episode is somewhat vague.

According to the police, “The Brampton woman was at a shopping mall in the area of Queen St. and Central Park Dr. when she was approached by an unknown male accusing her of filming him. The woman attempted to walk away but the man allegedly approached her again, slapped her phone out of her hand and assaulted her. The victim suffered minor injuries.”

Let’s forget the back story and focus on the physical episode.

Further, let’s place ourselves in the woman’s position.

First, notice how aggressively the attacker walked into the store and headed straight for the woman. At this point, she appears unaware of his entrance until 0:19. She turns her head toward him due to him possibly calling her out. At this point, I would have put the cellphone away.

He confronts her, as seen below.

Stop the tape here. If you are in the woman’s position, what do you do when someone walks up to you and aggressively confronts you?

Yes, I am looking at this from the perspective of a martial arts instructor. The woman, at this point, was in a poor self-defence position. First, she is holding the cell phone in her right hand. Her left hand is on the table in the above screenshot.

She has very little room to maneuver to create space between herself and the attacker. She possibly could have backed up along the length of the table behind her to create distance between myself and this guy. However, her friend was in the way. The bottom line is that she was boxed in.

All is not lost though.

Note the height difference between the attacker and the woman. It appears to be substantial. While that initially favours the attacker, the woman could have flipped the script.

But first, let’s discuss the woman’s mistake. As the attacker knocked the phone out of her hand, his face was wide open. At the same time, his hands were dangling by his side.

Strictly from a physical safety perspective, slapping the face was not the wisest move.

She had the right idea but the wrong technique.

Palm strikes (under the chin, given the height difference), eye jabs, or ear slaps followed by a clinch and knees to his groin would have been the better option. Check out the video below for a possible solution. I’d start with strikes to the face (palm strikes, eye jabs, etc) before going into the clinch.

If you’re not able to view this video, go here.

Would my suggested techniques have worked? I think that it would certainly have been better than a slap. At the same time, self-defence techniques are not guaranteed to work.

After the slap, he launched a barrage of 15 punches. Side note: his punching sucked big time. Consequently, she never went down.

Again, I’m looking at this from a martial artist/self-defence instructor’s perspective. I hope those reading this article are getting something useful from my observations. It is easy to comment from the outside looking in.

There is one more interesting aspect to this video: The bystanders.

First, look at the woman’s friend/acquaintance in the screenshot below.

Whether from terror or an unwillingness to get involved, she did not intervene to help the woman during the attack. However, she did check on her after the incident.

At the same time, the attacker had three buddies in the background to back him up in case he needed assistance. See below.

Even if the woman had repelled his attack, there is a chance that his buddies would have rushed into the store and “intervened” on his behalf. This adds another layer of complexity to this entire self-defence situation.

Additional Reading

• Bikinis and Filipino Martial Arts
• Slap off/Pull Off in Filipino Martial Arts
• It’s Real and It’s Spectacular
• Video of the Week 5: Modern Arnis Slap-Off/Pull-Off
• “Dun Dun” Comes To Toronto!

Analyzing a one-on-one self-defence situation initially looks simple. It’s easy to opine on what the woman could have done. However, it gets much more difficult when one zooms out and sees the attacker has buddies standing by to intervene.

Side note: An NYPD friend of mine was once attacked by a gang of three or four attackers some thirty years ago. He was a highly skilled 8th-degree black belt. It did not go well for him, and he ended up in the hospital for several weeks. He admitted that he “played” around with the first attacker and thought that was a mistake on his part. He opined that had he dealt with the first guy quickly and efficiently, the others might have left him alone. We’ll never know. In any case, dealing with mass attacks is a nightmare scenario.

In the end, the woman survived with minor injuries, and I hope that the attacker is apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Do you have any opinions or thoughts on this topic? I’d like to hear your comments!

Before you go elsewhere on the Internet, please consider buying me a beer or a cup of coffee!

I need your help defraying the increasing expenses of the blog/website. You’ll be recognized for your contribution. 😉

A huge thank you in advance!