On Thursday afternoon around 4:15 p.m., Martin and a friend from college were out shopping at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles when he said he noticed a shoplifting in progress at the Versace Collection store just a few yards away.
Martin said one shoplifter had taken three purses and was running out of the store. Martin, whose name might sound familiar since he was in the center of the Miami Dolphins' bullying controversy in 2013, saw a second shoplifter in the process of snatching the items and he sprung into action.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Sports, Martin said he ran across the corridor into the store and helped the security guard in corralling the would-be shoplifter. The shoplifter was larger than the security guard so Martin punched the criminal “five-to-eight times” until he went down. He wanted to do just enough to get the man to stop fighting so that he could be subdued. Security was then able to place him in a chokehold until more help arrived.
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The first shoplifter got away but the second one picked a lousy day to attempt his crime, with an NFL lineman just yards away.
“I didn't even think,” Martin told Yahoo! Sports via phone on Thursday night. “I just reacted. It wasn't till later when [my friend] said 'He could have had a gun.' I didn't even think about it. I just wanted to help.”
A security officer at the mall said he was unable to comment on Thursday evening. Martin put out a very casual tweet about the event just hours after it happened:
A second-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2012 NFL Draft, Martin became a household name when teammates were accused of bullying him, drawing attention to the culture of professional sports locker rooms. He played in 15 games and had nine starts in 2014, his first season with the 49ers.
Martin says there were no nerves in thwarting a crime in action. He didn't even have time to get scared, he admits.
“It took maybe 30 seconds,” said Martin about subduing the shoplifter. “It all happened so fast you don't really think about it. You just sort of react.”
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Kristian R. Dyer writes for Metro New York and is a contributor to Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KristianRDyer
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1FxBRYQ
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