A trained mixed martial arts fighter took down a man armed with a knife threatening the manager of a CVS in Northeast D.C.
Marquise Brown was in his local CVS buying tape for his hands when he heard a man yelling and saw a knife in his hand.
“That’s when I ran and I grabbed him and I performed a takedown on him, one that I’ve practiced in the past,” he said.
Brown credited the skills he’s learned at Capital MMA in Takoma Park with preparing him for what happened.
“Once to the point I got him down, I couldn’t see where the knife was,” he said. “I just made sure I controlled his hand.”
He had to hold the man down for almost five minutes while the suspect was wrestling to get away.
“I kept repeating, ‘Sir, stop or I’m going to have to choke you unconscious. If you don’t stop I’ll have to choke you unconscious,’” Brown said.
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The entire time Brown wrestled with the man, store employees — including security — watched.
“I kind of thought someone was going to help me, but I felt completely controlled,” he said.
According to a police report, officers did not arrest the man but ordered him not to return to the CVS.
“You have to learn how to defend yourself,” Brown said. “People always think, ‘It’s never going to happen to me. I’ll see it, but it’s never going to happen to me,’ until it does.”
