Last week I sent out this handy video which offers a great way to immediately subdue someone with a fast-acting choke... which SHOULD just result quick nap and hopefully some dreams about how one's time could be better spent.

Some folks in the 'ol comment section were quick to bring up the story of Daniel Penny, an ex-marine who used a choke to subdue Jordan Neely, an allegedly aggressive subway passenger... WHO THEN PROCEEDED TO DIE.

Yes, Daniel Penny looks like the bad guy in every 80's cop show ever made.

Yes, Jordan was probably dressed as Michael Jackson for halloween and this image was chosen for maximum confusion.

But I will not speak ill of the dead... or those who are allegedly more likely to make me dead.

Needless to say, those who had just seen my hypothetical choke tutorial were concerned about the whole... uh... 'being charged with manslaughter 'thing.

First, for those curious about the incident, here a news report which contains some admittedly graphic footage of the beginning of the chokehold. It cuts off before Neely loses consciousness... but the choke is clearly very tight.

Nevertheless, I dug into the ongoing legal arguments to figure out what the hell happened, as the full video has seemingly been erased from online existence. Here are the facts as I understand them:

The original video is 4 minutes and 57 seconds long, starting with the footage above. So what you may have just seen, is the very beginning of the recorded altercation.

Penny proceeded to hold the choke for another FOUR MINUTES AND ONE SECOND in addition to what you may have just seen... long after Neely's movements were convulsive and spasmodic, clearly indicating a loss of consciousness, physical control, or the presence of a threat.

Eye witnesses on the video can be heard saying, "If you don't let him go now, you're going to kill him."

Now... the hypothetical, role playing, not-actually-legally-binding recommendations from my video were to hold a choke for TEN SECONDS... or until the man becomes heavy. There must be some effort on your part to determine when the loss of consciousness has occurred.

In some rather hilarious footage at the 7:23 mark of my video here, you can see Jiu Jitsu phenom Craig Jones choking Alex Jones to sleep... just 'for fun'. But before this footage started, Craig asked Alex to hold his arms up in the air, so that when they dropped, Craig would know that consciousness had been lost.

When you choke someone for 5 minutes, you can reasonably expect them to die.

Now, occasionally, there are some super smart people in the ol' comment section in Fight Smart. Some of them may or may not even be doctors! You should scroll down from time to time...

Anyhow, one such person offered some brilliant details about how 'brain death' actually occurs, and the effects of oxygen deprivation on different cell types.

Super interesting stuff...

Nevertheless, while I don't like to dwell for too long on one topic, this update felt necessary.

But if you stopped caring about oxygen deprivation two weeks ago when I first brought them up, here's a video of Mike Zambidis making people repeatedly lose consciousness from pure combat induced blunt force trauma.

(In other words, he punches and kicks them at a professional level.)

Have a fantastic day!

-Trav

P.S.

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