Campus Safety Supervisor Disarms Knife Wielding Student

I was an unarmed campus supervisor (school safety officer) at a high school in Southern California. I monitored a sporting event on campus and saw a male student with what appeared to be a folding knife protruding from his right pocket. I immediately gained the attention of the other present staff members. The other staff members verbally engaged the student to get him to surrender the weapon - possessing a knife on campus is a felony.

The male student became agitated, cursed, and paced back and forth. As the other staff members attempted to detain the student for the felony, he pushed back against them, and they fell to the ground with the student during the struggle. The student recovered quickly, returned to his feet, removed the knife from his pocket, opened it, and came at me while telling me to "back the fuck up!" Even though I was backing up, the student continued to advance on me. Fearing for my safety, my training with Alex Smith (Training Evolved) came into play. I disarmed the student, pinned him to the ground, and handcuffed him with assistance from the other staff members.

While training with Alex, I always wondered how I would react and if I would respond appropriately. I had no time to think. I recognized the threat and responded. The defensive exercise worked better than I ever imagined. The amazing thing was that the student advanced on me just as we trained. Alex always insisted on realistic attacks when teaching. He always tells his clients that the defense works best when the attack is real.

I hope others take this training and see its benefits. Times are changing, and I know I avoided serious injury because of the training!

I should mention that the student was a known gang member, carrying a backpack with narcotics and a scale for distribution.

M. Davis