A pastor put his mixed martial arts training to use early on Thanksgiving morning after encountering a burglar on the property of his church. Nick Neves went to check on First Family Church in Antioch, California, after the alarm went off.
When Neves arrived, he discovered that a would-be thief had smashed one of the church’s windows with an axe and had propped a door open.
“As I was going into the door, the perpetrator came out with a handful of our goods, and I stopped him,” Neves told CNN. “And I told him he was essentially under citizen’s arrest, that the police would be there, and he needs to stop and wait for them.”
Neves said that the assailant attempted to flee and that when Neves attempted to restrain him, the man began to fight.
RELATED: Toilet, Sound Equipment Among Items Stolen in Burglary of TN Church
“And so we tussled for quite a while before the cops were able to get there,” said Neves, who indicated that he has practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu since he was a high schooler.
Neves clarified that he did not intend to hurt the man, saying, “I was just hoping to keep him from getting away so that justice could be done and our church could be protected.”
Neves, who is 46 years old, was able to restrain the man until the police arrived and detained him. He told NBC News that he grappled with the man for roughly 12 to 15 minutes.
“I was able to pin him to the ground, and he got up and [tried] to get away several times, but basically just trying to wear him out because I knew I could outlast him,” Neves said.
“When the pastor at First Family Church on Contra Loma responded to check an alarm in the early hours of Thanksgiving he was not expecting to confront a burglar, but that’s what happened,” said the Antioch Police Department (APD) in a social media post.
RELATED: Former Youth Pastor Faces 191 Charges of Child Sex Abuse
“When the burglar saw his wicked deeds had been discovered he decided to fight with the pastor instead of repent,” the APD continued. “What he did not know was the pastor would win this battle of good and evil and he held down the perp until APD arrived and placed the man in custody.”
