Evolution Muay Thai
- A Good Samaritan and martial arts coach came to the rescue and stopped a baby kidnapping using his Jiu-Jitsu skills on Saturday.
- Brian Kemsley, 33, had been walking in Madison Square Park, New York with his girlfriend when he heard a woman screaming.
- A man was trying to pull a baby in a stroller away from its mother.
- Video footage taken by witnesses showed that Kemsley tackled the man to the ground and held him there for fifteen minutes.
- The man was taken into custody and transported to hospital for a psychological evaluation, a NYPD spokesperson told Fox News.
- Kemsley told PIXII: “It’s not a matter of stepping in, it’s a matter of duty when you see a woman and her child screaming.”
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A Good Samaritan and martial arts coach came to the rescue on Saturday and stopped a baby kidnapping using his Jiu-Jitsu skills.
Brian Kemsley, 33, had been walking in Madison Square Park, New York with his girlfriend at around 3 pm when he heard a woman screaming as he sat on a park bench, the Daily Mail reported.
When he looked up, he saw a man trying to take a baby in a stroller from its mother, who was desperately holding onto it and was also carrying a 4-year-old, according to the Law Officer.
Kemsley told WABC that there were a couple of others trying to stop the man: “I saw this man playing tug of war with a baby stroller, telling everyone it was his baby.
“Once they peeled his hands off the stroller, the mom could make a break for it with the stroller… it was then that I thought ‘oh this is not going to go well right now,'” he added.
Video footage taken by witnesses showed that Kemsley then tackled the man to the ground and held him there for fifteen minutes.
Kemsley is a martial arts coach at Evolution Muay Thai NYC. He told the New York Post he also did Jiu-Jitsu for a decade but was "worried about passing out and losing my grip" by the end.
"It's not a matter of stepping in. It's a matter of duty when you see a woman and her child screaming," he told PIXII.
Kemsley said that he realized the man was mentally ill when, at one point, he appeared to believe he was talking to President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, according to the New York Post.
"I was trying to get him away from the mother, and let her get away to safety. But toward the end of it, I was also trying to keep the guy safe from the mob, he said.
Park rangers handcuffed the man until the police arrived. The NYPD told Fox News that they responded to a report of an emotionally disturbed person in the park at around 3.24 pm.
"The individual was taken into custody and transported to Bellevue hospital for psychological evaluation," a spokesperson said.
Members of the public applauded Kemsley's decisive actions and the mother and her children returned to the park to thank him.