Every action movie has a scene where the hero punches someone who needs it in the face and the audience swoons. The reality is, if you are trained, it is not that hard to knock out an untrained person. So they fall, but there is no mat, and their head can hit the cement hard, and they can die.
It happened in South Dakota in 2011 and the city banned MMA. That same year Bellator signee Rasul Mirzaev killed a college student with one punch after the man flirted with his girlfriend. Also in 2011 21-year-old amateur fighter Waylen Carenio was charged with manslaughter for the death of a 44-year-old man after a fight outside a Hilo sports bar. This is not a comprehensive list, but rather three anecdotal examples all from the same year.
It happens every year and it just happened again. 2-2 amateur MMA fighter and BJJ purple belt Zachary Kenneth Allen, 23, of Largo, Florida has been charged with critically injuring University of South Florida engineering student Brian Neal, 26, on St. Patrick’s Day.
“On Saturday, March 18, 2017, at 2:10 a.m., at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and 2nd Street, in front of Detroit Liquors, an altercation occurred where a man punched another man in the face,” reported the St. Petersburg PD via
” target=”_blank”>Facebook. “The man that was punched in the face immediately fell backward, striking his head on the pavement. He incurred very serious head injuries and is in critical condition at a local hospital.”
The injured man’s girlfriend reached out to FOX 13, calling him a “hard-working, sweet, caring, goofy man.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt someone like that,” she wrote.
Major Shannon Halstead from the St. Petersburg Police Department provided an explanation.
[Allen] was cat calling and whistling to females in the general area,” said Halstead to WFLA. “The victim made a comment to him.”
Then a single punch was thrown, and it landed, and the victim landed on the pavement, and may never recover. This circumstance is common and is avoided if you only fight under three circumstance – the gym, the arena, or when physically attacked.
Allen taught at Supremacy BJJ in Largo, Florida. His instructor Rodrigo Greeno expressed disbelief at what happened.
I could not see Zack ever doing something like this,” said Greeno. “He’s been training with me since he’s 15. He’s a family guy. … Never had any problem. Very well educated kid. Known as smart person, always treats people, everybody with a lot of respect. .. I’m shocked that this situation happened. We teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is take-downs.”
The multiple Pulitzer Prize winning Tampa Bay Times reports that Allen may face different treatment from the courts because he is a trained fighter.
Prosecutors “could allege that his hands are deadly weapons,” said longtime Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger.
While the law itself doesn’t address the issue, standard instructions in such cases say jurors “may take into account the relative physical capabilities and capacities” of the two fighters, noted Clearwater defense lawyer Denis deVlaming, a former prosecutor.
When dealing with a defendant such as Allen, “it’s not the same as two schoolhouse kids flailing away at each other,” deVlaming explained. “It becomes something disproportionate. … It ain’t a fair fight.”
A jury is likely to say that a mixed martial arts fighter does have a heightened duty to be careful about when and where he hits someone “because of his training,” deVlaming said.
Allen is being held on a $10,000 bond. He faces a charge of aggravated battery with great bodily harm. The maximum penalty for the second-degree felony is 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. However, Allen has no prior criminal record so if found guilty is likely to face much lighter penalties.
Brian Neal remains in critical condition.
