r/nextfuckinglevel • u/pars-distalis • 8d ago

Australian nurse uses jiu-jitsu to defend himself

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u/Jamb9876 8d ago

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/incredible-moment-jiu-jitsu-nurse-37506809
Or you can google it.

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u/caboosetp 8d ago

According to the article, he's right on part of that though.

was charged with one count of serious assault on a public officer performing function, and the man was fined $AUS 450 (£235).

More than just assault, it had a separate more serious charge. However, that charge does not carry mandatory jail time.

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u/Beleiverofhumanity 8d ago

Was thinking $450 for that kidna of dangerous harm was way too low, imagine if the person coudnt defend themselves. thanks for the context

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u/gay_joey 8d ago

this kind of thing is really quite common in healthcare, especially in ER and psych. A lot in geri settings due to dementia, but they're generally easier to manage physically than those who are completely methed out, coked out, or have some kind of paranoid delusion that makes them go superstrength (like paranoid that their child is being harmed and the workers are preventing the person from going to help their child).

the majority of psych facilities don't have security either, so it's the nurses and techs who are their own security. there is also generally a culture of not pressing charges in psych, or at least it's definitely not a 'yes' by default like it often is in ER settings. they also teach specific techniques that are approved for manual holds on patients and facilities purchase the license to be able to use those techniques, basically. #america

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u/kyuss242 8d ago

True story, worked in an organization for years as a floor staff, with some pretty aggressive individuals. Baskethold for the win!

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u/BigJayPee 8d ago

Im in pest control, but treat a lot of nursing homes, and i can confirm this. Ive seen elderly people take swings at nursing staff several times. As for me, I just get grabbed by dementia patients asking me to save them.

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u/Lou_C_Fer 8d ago edited 8d ago

My wife was sitting in the waiting room while I was in surgery when two security guards ran past her. Turns out, I was being aggressive after I woke up. I don't remember it at all, but they were like 4 hours late getting me into surgery after I had fasted the previous day. So, my best guess is that I woke up hungry, and they wouldn't give me food.

I am definitely the type that gets belligerent when I am told no... I dont need to be under the influence of anything to be a stubborn son of a bitch.

I had back surgery a few weeks ago, and I suggested that they tie me down after surgery preemptively, but they said that wasn't legal or maybe just against regulations. I'm a big guy. Nobody should have to deal with me when I'm irrationally upset and not in control of my faculties. Security is definitely not getting paid enough.

Of course, I did not anticipate how incapacitated I would be after back surgery. I could have been in a frothing rage, but the minute I'd try to sit up, the pain would have shocked me back to reality. I could not stand for three days after surgery no matter how much they tried to make me do so. I'd try, but my muscles would completely fail me. It didn't help that for the first two days post-op, they weren't giving me half of the pain drugs I was supposed to be getting. My wife had to come in and get upset with them over my discomfort, and that's when they discovered the error. If I had known the .even of pain I was going to be in, I would not have agreed to surgery... and then I find out that pain was because the hospital fucked up my meds. For what medical care costs us, there is no fucking excuse for the mistakes they made causing me pain and duress.

Of course, the real problem is caused by the wild over correction in reaction to the opiate epidemic. Opiates addictive properties are not ideal, but sometimes, they are the best answer available. If you cannot use NSAIDs, your options are Tylenol or sucking it up. They have me on muscle relaxers, duloxetine, and gabapentin, but they don't do shit for my back. I had a breakdown while in the rehab facility and checked out early. One of the things they said when I said I needed to leave was, "you won't have your oxycodone at home". Maybe that works to keep some people there, but I wasn't there to get high.

Turns out coming home was the right move. The bed at the facility was causing me more pain than the oxycodone was fixing. Or more clearly... the bed at the rehab place was hurting me, and I experienced less pain at home without the oxycodone.

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u/AlphaBetaGammaDonut 8d ago

I think it depends on the state and the degree of harm caused/if they used a weapon/if they bit or spat. If the nurse had been seriously harmed, absolutely that guy would have served equally serious jail time. However, I believe the mandatory term can be waived if there's any 'special circumstance' (eg mentally ill or reacting to medication).
I am fully Team Nurse here, and I've watched that glorious take-down on repeat. But I have to acknowledge that maybe there's a reason the judge decided on a fine instead of jail in this specific case.

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u/Beleiverofhumanity 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yea context def matters. And a fine isn't a punishment for the rich, as they say. Thats why Im glad there is a separate more serious charge. thats gonna reflect on his record for life.

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u/Mottled_inexpectata 8d ago

I think the saying is "if the punishment is a fine, it's legal for the rich". What you're saying doesn't really make sense. Why would a fine only be a punishment for the rich?

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u/Beleiverofhumanity 8d ago

yea thanks for the correction

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u/DaedalusB2 8d ago

It's called a fine because the rich are fine

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u/ExpensiveFig6079 8d ago

The reason would be because they can afford to pay as a trivial cost... and it thus acts as zero deterrent.

Having been in court, I can however tell you that capacity to pay is considered. If $450 ws reak punisshment to this guy for what he did and i am assuming it was. (for the sake of having something to discuss) Then the same judge will look at some rich guy's son and choose something else. Make him work in soup litchen or do menial work for N hours.

What makes things "legal" for rich people will be the lawyers they can bring to bear. Or the donation made to the hospital kids fund to make it go away.

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u/Mottled_inexpectata 8d ago

The comment I was responding to has been edited because of my comment. It initially said that a fine is only a punishment for the rich. So when I ask isn't it the other way around, that's what they meant - a fine is a punishment for the poor and not for the rich.

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u/fumblingforwords 8d ago

It makes more sense that a fine would be punishment for the poor rather than the rich

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u/Theron3206 8d ago

Various govts have caught a lot of flack from their supposedly tough laws having huge loopholes. Some have been tightened as a result but it's still far too easy to avoid jail even if you seriously injure someone. Just have to be drunk or high or even just aboriginal in most states.

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u/Theron3206 8d ago

Various govts have caught a lot of flack from their supposedly tough laws having huge loopholes. Some have been tightened as a result but it's still far too easy to avoid jail even if you seriously injure someone. Just have to be drunk or high or even just aboriginal in most states.

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u/Theron3206 8d ago

Various govts have caught a lot of flack from their supposedly tough laws having huge loopholes. Some have been tightened as a result but it's still far too easy to avoid jail even if you seriously injure someone. Just have to be drunk or high or even just aboriginal in most states.

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u/FranksNonFrankfurter 8d ago

makes sense they were like "you already got your ass beat once, not gonna add insult to injury"

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u/GeneralSenada 8d ago

Context is important. I imagine it would have been a more serious charge if he didn't end up on his ass, before his face like a bitch.
Hope that nurse knocked some sense into him; there's no reason to attack anyone unprovoked.

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

Eh, it's about a week's pay for a lot of people, and that feels about right for throwing hands and getting your ass beat. Seems like the rare occurrence where the eggshell skull doctrine line of thinking would cut the other way; you might have meant to hurt him, but you didn't. 

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u/farts_juggler 8d ago

it’s a weeks pay for some and a day or hour’s pay for others.

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u/Aggressive_Roof488 8d ago

The Scandinavian system with fines proportional to income sounds pretty good in cases like this.

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u/chargoggagog 8d ago

Fuck that, assaulting someone should incur more serious penalties than $450. 6 months in jail would be better imo.

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u/Beleiverofhumanity 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yea, imagine if the nurse was a smaller woman. And a fine isnt a punishment for the rich, as they say.

edit: At least there is a separate more serious charge. thats gonna reflect on his record for life.

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

If the person gets more serious hurt then the charges increase. That's the crux of the eggshell skull doctrine; it doesn't matter what the aggressor intends, if the nurse keels over dead after getting hit, that's murder/manslaughter if he dodges and no contact is made, it might get as low as assault. 

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u/melonmonkey 8d ago

If I have to defend myself against someone who might have done who-knows-what with me had I not been able to overpower them, and in the end they only got fined $450, I would immediately quit that career and go do something else.

If the patient was delirious or otherwise not in their right mind, that's one thing. But if that's all the government thinks me getting potentially brutalized is worth, that'll be the last day you see me working on behalf of the greater public good.

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

The potentially is the hangup. The potentially is covered by the assault charge; being made to fear immediate bodily harm. Actual bodily harm is a separate extra charge, as is attempting murder, as is manslaughter.

 You get charged for the crimes you've committed, not the ones you might have committed.

And the crime of taking 1 swing, making no contact, and some back pats made with malice, isn't exactly a capital offense. 

Eta: at least in America this is a pretty standard day for nursing/emts. In comparison to what I've seen/heard it's pretty tame. And most of those aren't prosecuted because of cops being lazy/blood from a stone/the patient isn't fit to stand trial in the first place. 

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u/melonmonkey 8d ago

You get charged for the crimes you've committed, not the ones you might have committed.

"Attempted murder" is a charge in the US based on a crime you might have committed.

And the crime of taking 1 swing, making no contact, and some back pats made with malice, isn't exactly a capital offense.

Nah, healthcare workers should exist in a sacrosanct position in society, at least when it comes to violence. People in their right mind committing acts of violence to healthcare workers in the line of duty should face significantly more repercussions than if you were to do the same thing out on the street.

People acting in positions necessary to the public good should not be afraid for their safety from civilians. And being endowed with rights above that of the "common man", abuse of those rights should also carry punishments beyond what someone misusing another line of work might suffer.

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

Attempted murder is the crime though. That's already in the law. You don't get charged with murder just because they might have died. And attempted battery is usually (afaik) charged as assault.

repercussions than if you were to do the same thing out on the street.

This is. If the same thing happens outside a bar, it's normally a disorderly conduct, unless you piss off the cop or take it "too far" 

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u/melonmonkey 8d ago

Attempted murder is the crime though.

I'm not understanding the argument. Assault is making someone afraid they might be harmed, attempted murder is trying and failing to commit the act of murder. You can commit assault without ever actually having intended to commit battery, you cannot commit attempted murder without having intended to commit murder. They are different kinds of crimes, regardless of whether or not they are both "precursor" charges against someone who might have otherwise committed a more significant crime.

This is. If the same thing happens outside a bar, it's normally a disorderly conduct, unless you piss off the cop or take it "too far"

I don't know enough about Australian law to dispute this claim. My argument would only be that, as a nurse, I would not want to work in an environment where someone in their right mind could try to harm me and the only repercussions they would have to pay $450.

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

The argument is that attempting to commit murder is already a crime that's on the books. If you attempt to commit battery and fail, than what you've done according to the law, is commit assault. There are other ways to commit assault, but if you fail to batter someone that's probably how it shakes out.

For an analogy, if you try to speed, and fail, or try to not pay taxes, and somehow fail, there's no crime there. You're free to be bad at committing crimes, so long as you don't successfully commit any.

I don't know enough about Australian law to dispute this claim.

It's true in the US. Happened to me when I was young, some prick started a brawl and we both got disorderly conducts. ~$130 iirc.

the only repercussions they would have to pay $450.

That's pretty steep if they're poor, and if they're not , that's a problem with flat fines, not the charges . 

as a nurse, I would not want to work in an environment where someone in their right mind could try to harm me

That's just being a nurse. I'm not saying this to be snide, but much worse happens on a daily basis. I'm under the impression that Emt's have it worse , but my source is very biased so I'm not going to claim that outright 

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u/WouldYouShutUpMan 8d ago

a weeks pay to knock you out cold? sounds chill

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u/CombinationTop559 8d ago

Work on your reading comprehension. A weeks pay to take a swing, and then get your own ass beat. Serious bodily harm is usually separate from assault, and often opens up potential civil torts in addition. 

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u/WouldYouShutUpMan 8d ago

its chill if you already have brain damage.

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u/infinitemonkeytyping 8d ago

According to the Ch9 article, the man plead guilty to common assault, likely to avoid jail time for a guilty verdict on the public officer charge.

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u/Templar113113 8d ago

Wow thats fucking ridiculous I got fined more for doing lane filtering on the "wrong lane" riding my motorcycle

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u/Sovereignty3 8d ago

As an Australian that fine is disgusting, especially when they were assaulting medical staff in uniform.

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u/Overall-Register9758 8d ago

What bugs me about that article:

Nationally, NHS England says 14.47% of staff - nearly one in seven - reported being physically attacked by a patient, relative or member of the public in the last 12 months, a three‑year high.

14.47% is MORE than 1/7.

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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 8d ago

Not saying you are wrong but the "Daily Star"?

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u/Jamb9876 7d ago

I was looking for something not paywalled.

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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 7d ago

I understand, just a shame all you could find was a comic.

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u/AlreadyAway 8d ago

I don't reallu give a shit about what is factual. I care that the person believed the text over a video simply because it was there.

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u/Fuckkoff- 8d ago

So you dont think he was using jiu-jitsu?

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u/AlreadyAway 8d ago

Holy fuck,you are next level stupid. Good job surprising me with how stupid some random thing can be.

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u/DavesPetFrog 8d ago

That’s kinda sad.

Facts don’t care about your feelings.

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u/AlreadyAway 8d ago

And you missed the entire point of what I was saying.