Kamloops MMA fighter subdues man who stole his truck | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops MMA fighter subdues man who stole his truck

Chad Freeman is the owner of BOA Mixed Martial Arts in Kamloops. He recently had his truck stolen but was able to locate it and subdue the suspect until police arrived.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Chad Freeman

KAMLOOPS — Thieves are often looking for easy pickings, so stealing a truck from a professional MMA fighter who owns a mixed martial arts studio in Kamloops was a bad miscalculation. 

Chad Freeman woke up to find his truck was stolen from his property in the early morning of July 8.

“My daughter ran into my bedroom and said ‘Dad! Dad! I think someone is trying to steal your truck’ so I put my shorts on and ran out there and by the time I got out there he was just taking off and heading down the street,” Freeman says.

The owner of Boa Mixed Marital Arts says he wasn’t able to get a good look at the thief’s face. He called the police to report his truck stolen and posted a photo of it to Facebook that same morning.

Around 10:30 a.m, Freeman says he was getting ready to head to work when one of his students pulled into his driveway.

“My buddy Joel came ripping into my driveway and was like ‘Chad, Chad, does your truck have those big lights on the roll bar? and I say ‘Yeah it does’ and he goes ‘I just saw your truck man, get in,’” Freeman says.

The two drove up and down the street looking for the truck. After only minutes of searching, the two men spotted the truck parked at a nearby school in the area.

“It wasn’t too far from my house,” he says. “It was kind of stupid that he would come back to this area.”

Freeman says he saw a man sitting down in front of the truck playing on an iPad.

“I snuck up and ran at him,” Freeman says.

The man, who was already sitting down, was pushed down by Freeman. He says he put a knee in the alleged thief’s chest and started cursing at him.

 

“I said you stole my truck. I was so mad. I was clenching my fist at his face and told him I could kill him,” Freeman says.

He told his friend to call 911. It took about ten minutes for the police to get there. But while police were on their way, Freeman says the man kept trying to reach into his pockets.

“He was screaming and yelling at me that he didn’t steal my truck and that he knows who did and he can bring them to me and all this stuff,” Freeman says. “I said ‘You can explain that to police when they get here.’”

Freeman says he saw the man trying to reach for a nearby metal bar that was laying beside him.

“I just put him in a choke and he went to sleep so he went right out,” he says. “When he started to come to he just freaked out and went nuts.”

By this time police had finally arrived. Freeman says the man was cuffed and put in the back of a police car.

When police were searching the truck, Freeman says he saw police pull out tools, drugs and tinfoil.

Freeman says he’s thankful no one was seriously injured or killed in the incident.

“I’m not trying to be Mr. police officer and trying to stop people from doing these things,” he says. “I’m glad I know the training that I have to be able to subdue someone like that.”

Freeman says if he would have lost his temper he could have seriously hurt the man. Kamloops RCMP says they do not recommend citizens try and detain suspects.

“The suspect could be armed and the citizen could be injured,” Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says in an email.

However, Freeman says he is content with how the situation went down.

“I am very happy with how I handled it. No one got hurt in a situation where somebody really could have,” he says. “I could have easily killed that guy with my bare hands if I wanted to.”


To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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