This very excellent news is making us all want to sign up for self defense classes. A female kickboxer fought back against her attacker and successfully knocked him out -- and was awarded $800 by a judge. Who is this real-life Wonder Woman?
Would you believe me if I told you she's keeping her identity a secret? Because she is -- but that's her right as the victim of an attack. Victim? I'm not so sure that's the right word in this case. Here's all the action-packed details.
The young woman was walking home at 2:00 a.m. when 39-year-old Mark Willis pounced, punching her, pushing her over a wall, jumping on top of her, and attempting to get under her clothes. "Be quiet and do as I tell you and you won't get hurt," he told her.
First the woman attempted an arm lock hoping to break his arm. "The intention is to send the elbow in the wrong direction and cause extreme pain or a break," she tells the Daily Telegraph. "I was not able to do that. I think he figured out what I was trying to do because he managed to wriggle free and he hit me again repeatedly in the face."
This stunned her, but only for a moment. "My legs were still free so I lifted my left leg up onto his shoulder and around the back of his neck," she says. "I crossed my right leg over and squeezed together as hard as I could."
Even as Willis was struggling for breath, his head locked between her legs, he pounded "as hard as he could" on the side of the woman's face. But she held on tight.
I closed my eyes and held it for as long as I could hoping he would pass out in a few seconds. Then I felt his body go limp. I thought he had lost consciousness or run out of air. I flipped him off, rolled over and crawled through the bushes to the door of the house. I could hear footsteps as he ran away and then a car starting.
But Willis's DNA (from his hands) was found on the crotch of the woman's shorts. The jury convicted him of sexual assault. He "bit off more than he could chew" when he attacked this woman, the judge later said.
We've been seeing a lot of exciting female action heroes lately, from Black Widow in The Avengers to Furiosa in Mad Max. But it's even more inspiring to hear about a real-life female action hero.
I think any self-defense instructor will warn you that fighting back is always dangerous. Your best defense is to avoid perilous situations in the first place. And if you are attacked, it's better to flee than to stay and fight. But sometimes women find themselves in these situations where you can't avoid being where you are, and you can't run.
Knowing a few key moves, and having the training and determination to keep fighting, served this woman well. I took a self defense class back when I was in college, but this story has me thinking, maybe I should get a refresher. Maybe we all should!
Have you ever taken a self-defense course?
Image via studio1901/Shutterstock