Girl, 13 Fends Off Attacker on Walk Home from School Using Jiu-Jitsu: 'Broke His Ankle'

A 13-year-old girl in California fought off a man using her jiu-jitsu training and broke his ankle when he tried attacking her on her walk home from school.

Police in Carmel, Calif., are now looking for the teen’s attacker. Police say the suspect ambushed the girl by hiding between two parked cars and stepping out to punch her in the face, according to reporting from KSBW, ABC7 and KION.

For three years, the 13-year-old has been taking jiu-jitsu classes at the Carmel Youth Center with Michael Blackburn, who teaches at the center, per ABC7. The teen applied what she learned in her class when the man tried to attack her. 

Jiu-jitsu is a weaponless form of martial arts that focuses on subduing opponents using joint locks, chokeholds, and leverage-based techniques like throws and pins.

“She punched him, she got him in a headlock, kneed him a couple of times, spun him around, threw him on the ground,” Blackburn said to the outlet. “She had stepped on his foot doing all this, and when she threw him on the ground, he broke his ankle.”

The teen was able to run home safely but her attacker is still on the loose. According to the local outlets, Carmel police do not have any solid leads on the man but have released a sketch of what they believe he looks like. 

The suspect is believed to be around 6 feet tall, muscular and now has an injury to his left foot inflicted by the teen who fought back, according to KSBW. 

“We’re doing everything we can to figure out who this person [is who] is responsible for what happened,” Todd Trayer, the local police department commander, told the outlet. He added that the suspect may have been under the influence of an intoxicant.

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Blackburn told the outlet that it broke his heart that his 13-year-old student needed to fight under the circumstances she did — but he told her he’s proud of her.

“She did exactly what she was supposed to do,” he said. “You have to fight in class like you’re going to protect yourself on the street.”

Blackburn told KSBW that knowing self-defense can save one’s life. “If a parent can get their child to a class, even if it’s a weekend class, to learn something, it’s so beneficial because there’s so much out there nowadays that it’s really scary.”