Jiu-Jitsu Practitioner Rescues Young Woman From Attacker in Dorm Room

Oct 08, 2016BJJEEBJJ News

Eighteen-year-olds students Adam Casey and Luca Berg of UBC (University of British Columbia) are credited with likely saving the life of a young woman who was attacked in her dorm room on Campus last Tuesday.

The suspect in the attack is 18-year-old Thamer Almestadi, an international student from Saudi Arabia

Witness Chantel Almeida lives on the third floor of the dorm residence where the attack took place and says that she saw Almestadi walking in the hallway before he entered the victim’s room and grabbed her.

She was screaming. Girls on my floor came out. One of the girls ran in … and tried to pull him off. Then another girl went in an tried to pull him off.

“From what I know he turned around and pulled out a knife and swung at them and scraped one of their arms. They were freaking out and one of them ran downstairs and got a guy who knew martial arts.

“By this time he had already cut some of her throat. He had her pinned down to the ground, strangling her. Martial arts guy came and ripped him off and had him in a choke position. After that the police came and they dealt with the situation.”

The martial arts guy in question was Adam Casey, who has been training both Jiu-Jitsu and Judo for the past 5 years.

Adam Casey has been training Jiu-Jitsu for 5 years

More from the Vancouver Sun:

Casey said he was picking up his mail in the Totem Park common area on Tuesday when two female students ran in, shouting that someone was being choked in another building. He ran to the scene and found a man holding a woman on the floor from behind with his hands around her neck.

Casey said he used his jiu-jitsu and judo training to place the man in a chokehold — but the suspect’s response was surprising.

“One-hundred-per-cent of people I’ve ever met, if they get put in a chokehold they put their hands on their neck and they defend themselves,” Casey said. “He didn’t care at all. He just kept holding on to her.”

Casey said he managed to pry one of the suspect’s hands from the woman’s neck and continued holding him until his friend Luca Berg managed to drag the victim away with the help of other students. With the woman gone from the room, all the fight went out of the attacker, he said.

“He didn’t fight back to me, he didn’t try to leave the room, he didn’t try to run, he didn’t fight the police at all,” Casey said.

Thamer Almestadi, 18, has been charged in the attack with attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, according to police on Wednesday. CTV reports Almestadi is an engineering student from Saudi Arabia who also lived in Salish House.