Two males attempted to mug Ben Donahue '09 last night around 11 p.m. as the first-year was walking from the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center to Perkins Hall.
Donahue - who had just spent nearly two hours practicing martial arts and learning how to defend himself against multiple assailants - put his skills to use during the attempted robbery when he fought off the two men.
Donahue, who was not injured during the incident, told The Herald one tall white male and one black male, who was of average height and "stocky," came up behind him at the corner of Waterman and Hope streets and asked for his money.
"My initial thought was, 'I'm a college student. I don't have any money. I can give you meal credits, but no money,'" Donahue said. "I ended up just telling them 'No.'"
The two men, who Donahue said were wearing black hooded sweatshirts, pushed him into a bush. Donahue said he reacted by spinning around and kicking one man in the stomach, "knocking the wind out of him." The man was wheezing and hunched over in pain, Donahue said. Donahue said he then used his Hap Ki Do skills to neutralize the other assailant, injuring the man's arm and causing the bone to stick out of his bloody appendage. Both men then walked off "briskly," cursing him, Donahue said.
"I kept on going to Perkins, but I did so a bit faster because I was kind of concerned the guys might have had 20 friends around the corner," Donahue said. At first, Donahue said he was hesitant to call the police because he was worried about being charged with assault, but he ultimately decided to do so because he knew he acted in self-defense.
Donahue said he was not threatened with a weapon, though he does not know if the assailants were armed or not.
Officers from the Providence Police Department and the Department of Public`Safety are investigating the incident, though PPD officers interviewing Donahue would not comment. Donahue said officers agreed he acted in self-defense.
After the incident, officers drove Donahue downtown to PPD headquarters at 325 Washington St. to give an official statement. As of press time, Donahue was still downtown looking through mug shots trying to identify the two men.
"I watched an episode of '24' tonight, and then this happens right down the hall. He's like a real-life Jack Bauer," said Sumeet Goil '09, who is in Donahue's first-year unit and helped convince him to call the police.
Hap Ki Do is a Korean martial art that teaches its students to redirect an opponent's energy for his or her advantage. Hap Ki Do uses joint locks, throws, kicks and pressure points to disarm opponents.
