Search on for man accused of sexually battering girl Sunday evening in Pembroke Pines
PEMBROKE PINES -- As a teenage girl walked back to her Pembroke Pines home from a local business Sunday night, she was ambushed in a horrific attack.
"A 17-year-old juvenile female was walking along Flamingo Road when she was violently pulled from behind into some bushes and sexually battered," said Sgt. Jason Palant, Pembroke Pines Police Department.
According to police, it happened on the 1400 block of South Flamingo road shortly after 8 p.m.
Police say after the assault, the suspect ran off southbound and the teenager, who was unable to use her phone at the time, ran in the opposite direction to get help.
"This is a very dangerous and violent individual," said Sgt. Palant.
We wanted to know some ways to fight back in case of an attack, so we checked out a local self-defense class.
Julio Anta has been teaching self-defense classes for nearly 30 years, a skill he says is critical for everyone to know.
"The biggest problem in the street is that in a sport you bow, everything is really nice — there's rules. There's no rules in the street. There's no tapping out, there's no trophies — it's your life," said Anta.
So, I tried out some of his techniques on how to protect yourself during an attack.
In this demonstration, learning how to navigate an attack from behind.
"What we do is we strike vital points. Whatever you cannot do in a combat sport. Strike the eyes, throat, private part, knees, bite, spit, head butt," said Anta.
Anta teaches self-defense and martial arts for people of all ages, including kids and teenagers.
For kids enrolled in Anta's class — they're taught how to fight back in emergency situations.
"My son just turned 11, he's actually been coming here for 5 years now. We thought it was important to bring him here mostly for self-defense so he can defend himself. We know that there's a lot of crazy things happening in the world, so we thought it was important that he was not only able to build confidence here, but most importantly was able to defend himself," said Josh Mason.
Anta says you're never too young or too old to learn how to defend yourself, and that if you're ever attacked in real life, to use your adrenaline and fear to fight back.
"We just teach them to control their fear, to use their fear like a fire. Fire can burn down a civilization. Yet, the fire we cook with to use that fear as a fire to be able to fight him off, and survive and run," said Anta.
The suspect in the Pembroke Pines sexual battery case is described as a man who is 20-30 years old, with dark hair who was wearing a white polo shirt and black jeans at the time of the assault.
Police are asking anyone who has any information about what happened to come forward.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call Pembroke Pines police or Broward Crimestoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
