Mixed martial arts fighters stop robbery of L.A. motel

[n2doc]

An attempted robbery of an L.A. motel was foiled by mixed martial arts experts just arrived from Oregon for a tournament in Long Beach, authorities said Friday.

The fighters struggled for several minutes to subdue the armed man without hurting him, one of them said Friday evening. Los Angeles police commended Brent Alvarez, 33, and Billy Denney, 28, for their actions.

A security video of the conflict at the motel in the 300 block of North Vermont Avenue was posted on YouTube and on the department's website.

Alvarez, who owns a mixed martial arts studio in Eugene, Ore., and Denney, one of his students, were getting off the elevator just before midnight Sunday when they stumbled on the suspect forcing the motel clerk at gunpoint to empty the cash drawer.

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/miced-martial-arts-fighters-foil-robbery.html

[TheWraith]

1. These guys were lucky.

Fists versus gun almost never works the way it does in the movies.

[Rex]

3. True it can take decades to master a martial art.

Yet it only takes a second to point a gun and pull the trigger.

[murielm99]

4. The gun was in the bag, not in his hand.

And there were two martial arts experts. One of the guys had been a bouncer, too. He said that he wondered why he didn't just hit the robber and knock him out. He also thought the robber was a guy who had run out of options. He understood that. There is a lot of that going around.

I have a feeling that their training kicked in, and the martial arts guys knew what they could do, within reason.

My youngest daughter is a martial arts practitioner. I don't think you would ever catch her trying to be Steven Segal. Anyway, that is not the purpose of the art and the training.

[NBachers]

8. I worked with a very respected Bay Area Martial Arts senior instructor

One night, a couple of guys held him and another man at gunpoint. They robbed my friend and made them strip off their clothes. Everybody was saying, "Man, why didn't you use your martial arts and pound those guys?" They wanted to hear about a Steven Seagal beat-down.

My friend simply didn't want to argue with guns. His objective was to get out of it alive and keep living his life. And he accomplished that objective. I respect him for his judgement.

[TheWraith]

11. Your friend made the right call.

Compliance is NOT a guaranteed form of survival--some criminals, particularly those facing a "third strike," will still kill or attempt to kill their victims even if the victims haven't done anything. But trying to get into a fistfight even with one armed person is generally a bad idea. A lot of people have the idea from movies and TV that it's somehow easy to take away a gun, when it's simply not. Even police officers, who are constantly armed and come into close contact with criminals, very rarely have to worry about their own weapon being used against them.

[teddy51]

2. They seemed to go out of there way not to hurt the perp as well, good job guys. n/t

[mainer]

5. The clerk seemed awfully calm! almost as if nothing was happening.

Surprised about that. You'd think that with a gun pointing at you, you'd freeze or back away or something.

[MADem]

6. That crook must not have known what hit him!! Ha ha ha!!!! Love stories like this. nt

[Gamow]

7. Evra-body was

kung-fu FUHEIGHT-ING
dah dah dah dah dah dah da da da

[dembotoz]

9. amazing response time from local pd

[formercia]

10. Today's 'Dumbest Hammer in the Bag' Award

He's in the Bag. Enjoy your stay.

[lonestarnot]

12. Tee hee! Love those guys!