Carlos,
Just felt like I had to relay the following incident to you and I'll tell you why at the end...
On the morning of 3/26/08, another agent and I attempted to make an arrest of an adult male. We saw him exit his residence and head over to the passenger side of his vehicle. As he was attempting to unlock the car door, we approached him and ID'd ourselves verbally and presented our credentials. We asked him for his name and he answered with his last name and then said, "I'm not going back". And here is where it began...
We tried to cuff him as he was looking to run. I managed to grab him as he ran past me and we both fell to the ground. His momentum carried him several feet before he fell so when he got up again and started running toward the back of the complex, he had that much of a head start on me. At that point I turned to my partner and advised that I would go after him.
I turned the corner of the complex at a dead run and noticed that there was no fence, just an open field and a heavily wooded area about 100 yards away. The target was also at a dead run a few yards in front of me and I knew that if he made it to the wood line he stood a good chance of evading me. I kicked it into high gear and was surprised to see that I covered the distance between us in a few seconds. When I was close enough I reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt, which tore but held long enough to give me a chance to tackle him. As we slid and tumbled forward, he ended up on top of me. I immediately grabbed both his arms (to protect my weapon), all the while yelling commands at him. He once again said the he didn't want to go back and attempted to get up and run. At this point I saw my partner come from behind him and take him down again (almost on top of me). Since the grass was wet with dew and the target was now wearing half a t-shirt, it was difficult to get a good grip on him.
After grappling for what seemed an eternity, we all managed to get back on our feet and this time I had a hold of one of his wrists while my partner had the other. My partner and I were doing the best we could to hold on to this real slippery guy. He was still uncooperative and was not responding to our commands to get on his knees and place his hands behind his back. At this point my partner unsheathed her expandable baton and told the target she would use it if he did not follow our commands. He responded by trying to break our grip on him. My partner utilized her baton on his thigh and managed to get his attention (it looked like he was going to cry), however, he stepped back, yanked his arms and managed to break free. The chase was on again.
He ran toward the front of the house at a full sprint and headed for the other end of the heavily wooded area about 75 yards away. I ran after him, however, I didn't go all out because I wanted to conserve my energy in case it turned out to be a prolonged chase. I saw him enter the woods and I lost sight of him temporarily. I spotted him again once I made it into the woods and managed to make up some ground, catch up to him, and tackle him. We rolled down a slope and ended up in a dry creek bed. We landed apart and he managed to get up and walk up the embankment (he was breathing heavily and was doubled over as he walked). I followed him at a trot since it looked like he wasn't going to get far (I was still trying to conserve energy). I caught up to him at the top of the slope, next to a barb wire fence, and pushed him down to the ground (I didn't know where my partner was at the time but I didn't want this guy to catch his breath and sprint away before she could get there). He quickly stood up, made a strange sound, doubled over, and showed me what he had for breakfast (he puked). It was at this point that my partner came over the fence and we both went for one of his arms. This guy was strong and still had some energy left but we managed to handcuff one of his wrists. We cuffed the other end to the fence and backed away to let him finish puking. We finally handcuffed him properly and took him into custody.
Why am I telling you this? Well, the guy we were trying to arrest was in his early 20's, about my height (5'6"), but heavier and stockier. My partner is in her mid to late 40's. As you know, I'm in my early 40's and have a thin/small frame (155 lbs.). I truly believe that if it wasn't for my kettlebell workout, this guy would have left me in the dirt, to exhausted to grapple or run. Although I did tire during the ordeal, I was no where near as exhausted as he was. As you know, I started with the 25 lb. bell (yeah, I was that weak) and have worked my way up to incorporating the 53 lb. I'm not a big, muscular guy and I don't want to be. I want to be able to do my job on a day to day basis and that means I have to be strong, have stamina, and be able to get up after a fall (which happens often).
Thanks for the intro to Crossfit Training and for the information you've shared with me regarding kettlebells and overall fitness. This is the best I've felt since my military days (when I was a young whipper snapper). Keep up the good work!
ICE
