Video shows teen restaurant worker trained in jiu-jitsu fight off attacker

Police are searching for the man who attacked 
a downtown Minneapolis restaurant worker. The man bit the 19-year-old Lotus employee 
six times on his back and shoulders. “I work here I don’t think of it 
as a job. I’ve known the family since I was like 13,” said Jezarious Sheldon. What he never expected was to 
be attacked while taking out the garbage. Video from a store 
nearby shows the confrontation. “When I walked past him for the first time, he said something like ‘what are you 
doing out here suburb boy’,” Sheldon said. Sheldon says there were 
several people standing by, watching as the man continued 
to verbally attack him. “There was a lady watching and she watched 
everything happen and he looks at the lady and he said watch what I’m about to do to this 
b-word and that’s when he started pushing me against the window and then that’s when it 
turned into self-defense,” Sheldon said. Sheldon studies jiu-jitsu. He 
used those skills and what he learned as a high school wrestler to fight back. “And every time I would pick him up and have 
him in the air — he was what like 6’2 — so he had a lot of room, so he would latch 
on to my shoulder while I was taking him down and every time I would have him on the 
ground he would bite my chest,” said Sheldon. Bystanders pulled Sheldon 
off the attacker and when he tried to walk about, he kept coming for him. “Brazilian jiu-jitsu — the guy bit off more than 
he can chew,” said Lotus co-owner Yoom Nguyen. Nguyen says his family has seen the 
neighborhood change since they opened in 1984. “I think safety is a huge issue here in 
people don’t tend to come out anymore to dine out to go eat because they don’t feel safe, 
I think that’s the biggest thing,” Nguyen said. He wants more patrols in the area but 
understands why police response is limited. “They need more help. The guys are short-staffed and there is only so much 
they can do,” Nguyen said. Nguyen hopes neighbors use their power 
of presence to keep the area safer.

Police are searching for the man who attacked a restaurant worker. The man bit that worker six times. Reg Chapman talked to that teenager in downtown Minneapolis.

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30 comments

  3. What would help the police is if DAs and Judges stopped just dropping or lessening charges to get a nothing burger plea deal with a slap on the wrist. If courts treated crimes seriously with deterent sentencing, perhaps people would think twice. And if not, at least theyd be off the streets for a bit

  13. What could have changed the neighborhood?
    None of us can figure out what could have caused such a change in a neighborhood…..please tell us Mr. newsman

  18. Looks like gang pledge, "Doin' his work". My niece was a gang member and she told me that these types of attacks usually fit that mold. IMO, the kid s a random victim.

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