A pastor in California confronted and overpowered a would-be burglar attempting to steal from his church on Thanksgiving, thanks to his clever martial arts training he never thought he’d have to use.
Pastor Nick Neves was expecting a peaceful Thanksgiving Day at First Family Church in Antioch, California, until a would-be burglar came into the church.
“(The suspect) came at me through the kitchen holding a box of our (possessions). At that point, I told him to stop. He didn’t want to stop. So, I ran after him. Grab a hold of him. But I didn’t get ahold of him until we got out to the parking lot,” explains Pastor Neves, who has been with the church for 20 years.
Pastor with martial arts training fights off would-be church burglar https://t.co/osXAT1N3bS
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What the suspect didn’t know is that Pastor Neves knows how to fight. He used his years of martial arts training in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing to overcome the would-be robber until the police came. He says they wrestled for 12 to 15 minutes.
“Just using positioning. I tried to maintain back control on the gentleman so that he wasn’t able to strike at me very effectively. And try to keep control of his hands, so that if he had a weapon of some kind, I’d be able to keep him from getting that weapon and using it against me,” says Pastor Neves.
Neves told local affiliate ABC 7 News he doesn’t recommend chasing after a would-be assailant. But he says he does believe in standing up for justice.
“Being a loving person doesn’t mean you have to be a weak person. Humility and strength are not antithesis to each other,” says Pastor Neves. “If there is a situation where you have to standup for yourself, I don’t think you have to apologize for that.”
Antioch police arrested the suspect, who Neves believes is likely a homeless man.