In a ghastly illustration of why martial arts should be used only as a last resort, a BJJ blue belt in Saigon, Vietnam, killed an elderly taxi driver with a rear naked choke.
According to multiple published reports, at around 2:10 a.m. on 16 February 2016, Nguyen Hoang Minh, 20, had a dispute with a taxi driver, Luu Thanh Son, 61. Minh choked Son, and when the man collapsed, Minh reportedly took his wallet and cell phone, before fleeing on the taxi bicycle.
The incident was captured on a security camera, and Minh was arrested a week later.
Minh reported to police that he had headed to Bui Vien Street in District 1 to have some beer on a Monday night, and hired Son to take him home on a motorcycle taxi afterward, at a quoted rate of VND30,000 ($1.34). The taxi driver reportedly got lost and then wanted Minh to pay VND100,000 ($4.48). Min refused, offering only VND50,000 ($2.24), and the pair got into an argument that got physical, with tragic results.
A man died in a dispute over 90 cents.
According to Major Doan, Minh has a Singaporean father and a Vietnamese mother, now divorced. Minh was believed to be living with his mother and sibling in an apartment in Saigon. The suspect reportedly was suffering financial difficulties and owed a friend VND10 million (US$448). He was adept at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and had won a silver medal at an international BJJ tournament in Singapore.
While a rear naked choke is part of an Olympic sport, Judo, and has a vanishingly thin record of associated major injuries, it can cause a brain aneurysm, particularly in individuals with a pre-existing condition. An aneurysm is also more common with age. An unconscious individual can also fall and hit his head, potentially fatally.
Striking someone on the street can and has regularly caused fatalities, and the submissions in BJJ are widely known to be a humane alternative. But even a choke can and did kill, reminding everyone trained in martial arts of their legal and ethical duty to refrain from using their skills unless they are attacked.
