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Kissimmee Police Officers Astrid Cruz and Gerardo Bellido watching as the group of women practice evasion, redirection, and escaping. PHOTO/EMELY ALBELO
Bodies hitting the floor were followed by laughter during the woman’s self defense class hosted by the Kissimmee Police Department.
KPD Officers Gerardo Bellido and Astrid Cruz lead the demonstrations of evasion, redirection, and escape for the class of women.
Cruz explained to the class that the moves they are going to teach are meant to save those attending the class from potential attackers.
“A lot of people when they are confronted, they tend to freeze and don’t know what to do,” said Cruz. “One thing you can do is learn to evade.”
Cruz explained to the group that the best thing to do when evading it to step to away to the left or right of the person and constantly keep eye contact as Bellido demonstrated an attempted grab on Cruz.
Attendees were divided into two groups—the good girls and the bad girls—and the class practiced evading the bad girls as they yelled for the other to “Get away from me!” and “Stay back!”
Cruz and Bellido, along with Sgt. Lisette Mercado, Officer Lenora Wooten, CPI TJ Close and Detective Monica Gavilanes all worked together to ensure that the ladies followed instructions while having a good time.
Fellow classmates and instructors fell on the yellow mat of the gym as “I’m sorry” was whispered across the room as the class practiced the final step of the course, escaping.
“Don’t forget to if your grabbed from behind, one thing you can do it stomp on the toes, the little space between and ankle and the foot, and scrape the knees,” said Bellido. “Trust me, it’s very painful.”
Bellido explained that using your elbow can fend off an attacker. Cruz added that hitting the knuckles will get your attacker to loosen their hold.
“You’re gonna want to get loud or yell to get someone’s attention if your being attacked,” said Bellido. “You want somebody that’s gonna be able to look and be there to help you.”
Cruz said a couple of months ago her brother was robbed at gunpoint. Fortunately, there were people around that saw him on the floor, and the robbers ran away, but after the incident her brother began studying karate, and now his confidence has grown.
"Us as police officers, we clock in every day and train all the time,” said Cruz. “I make it a point to go to the gym as much as I can because not only do I want to be healthy, but I also know that if something happens, I know there won’t be a point for me to go to her family and be like, “Hey, something happened to T.J.,” because that’s what makes a difference.”
The officers ended the class with a round of applause to the women who attended and offered up a full step-by-step demonstration between Cruz and Bellido.
Bellido grabbed Cruz from behind, and Cruz responded by turning her body to face him and lowered herself, wrapping her leg over his feet, which made him lose balance. Cruz used her body weight to pin him down while blocking any grabs or slips aways from Bellido.
The class applauded the officers as they began to make their departure.
“Just having that one-on-one time to talk to them and get them into the state mindset of giving them the confidence and showing them the different things, they could do to keep them safe and hopefully opening their eyes to contributing that type of training outside of our class,” said Mercado.
