Research shows that 40 percent of theft in major U.S. cities involves cell phones, and a survey by Lookout found that just over 1 in 10 smartphone owners have been victims of phone theft. That being said, it’s important to keep your phone protected and safe especially nowadays when smartphones carry so much valuable information on them.
The wrong woman to target
Not everyone would be able to fight back if they realized that their phone was being stolen – but one New Orleans woman showed her thief that she was the wrong woman to mess with.
A martial arts instructor
Meredith Livengood is a Mid-City martial arts instructor. As she was outside her club on Wednesday, she was approached by a prospective student inquiring about lessons. It soon became apparent that this interested stranger was actually more keen for something else – Meredith’s phone.
As Meredith pulled up her training schedules on her device, the man snatched the phone out of her hand and tried to take off on his bike.
She acts fast
He had clearly underestimated Meredith’s reflexes, as he’d barely even pushed off the pavement when she grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and yanked him to a stop. She then pulled the man off his bike, got him by the neck and grabbed the phone back out of his hand, tossing it on the floor behind her.
At this point, backup arrived, but Meredith was handling the situation just fine on her own. She pushed the man away from her and proceeded to point and yell at him.
Security footage captures everything
Though the security footage of the incident doesn’t have audio, we can imagine that whatever Meredith was saying was having a good effect, as the young man looked positively terrified.
Meredith’s colleague picked up her phone, then more members of her club came out to support her, including a man with a baseball club. The young man, completely lost of the arrogance he’d had when stealing the phone, grabbed his bike and ran for it.
It probably wasn’t the best idea to target anyone at a martial arts club, let alone Meredith, who had done taekwondo as a child, and now teaches classes in kung fu and Chinese kickboxing.
A neighbor comes to her aid
Meredith’s neighbor, LO Floyd, is the man in the video with the baseball bat. He caught the footage on his security camera, and said that he didn’t know whether the incident was real or not. He added,
“But then I saw the anger in the situation. That’s when me and my buddy ran down and I had my bat. But Meredith, she already had it taken care of already.”
He said that every time he looked at the footage, he was blown away by the woman he called his “hero”. He added that he already knew that Meredith was a black belt – the highest ranking in karate – but after finally seeing her in action, he would never cross her.
Don’t underestimate people
As for Meredith, she seemed certain that the young man wouldn’t be back in the future. It definitely wouldn’t be the wise thing to do.
“He underestimated his opponent,” she said to 4WWL. “People underestimate women a lot, and they shouldn’t.”
Watch Merideth’s quick reflexes in the video below. She is one strong woman!
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