A family of taekwondo experts in Texas stepped in to prevent a woman from being assaulted, holding the alleged perpetrator down until the authorities arrived.
The incident unfolded on June 18th in Cypress, Texas, where the An family, owners of the Yong-In Taekwondo Academy, were going about their day at their dojo. According to Simon An, 20, he and his father, Han An, 59, an 8th-degree black belt and veteran of the South Korean military, immediately sprang into action after hearing a woman’s scream from a nearby cell phone store.
The pair rushed to the scene to find a man allegedly on top of the woman, with his hand covering her mouth and touching her inappropriately. Han An attempted to pin down the man to prevent him from leaving, but the suspect allegedly bit the elder An during the struggle. Simon then joined the fray, kicking and punching the alleged attacker.
Meanwhile, the family’s matriarch, Hong, 55, and their daughter, Hannah, 22, guided the victim to safety inside the dojo, while their son, Christian, 18, locked the building’s entrance to secure the area.
When the Harris County Sheriff’s Office arrived, the An family was still holding the suspect in place. The authorities later identified the alleged assailant as 19-year-old Alex Robinson, who appeared in court that night on a S.A. charge. The judge set his bond at $100,000, citing mental health concerns raised by Robinson’s attorney.
Although the An family has honed their taekwondo skills over the years, with the children training since they were 4 or 5 years old and set to take their 5th-degree black belt tests this weekend, they emphasized that anyone, regardless of their martial arts expertise, should be willing to intervene in such situations.
“We hope anyone — regardless of their black-belt status — would step in to intervene,” Han An told The Washington Post.
