How a family of taekwondo teachers prevented a sexual assault

Simon An had just arrived at his family’s taekwondo school in Katy, Texas, with his parents, older sister and younger brother on Tuesday afternoon when they heard a scream so loud it reminded him of a horror movie.

The An family – all three are Taekwondo teachers – immediately intervened, prevented a sexual assault in the neighboring shop and handed the attacker over to the police.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed the report in a post on Facebook and thanked the An family, calling them a “group of Good Samaritans.”

Alex Robinson, 19, faces attempted sexual assault charges in connection with the attack, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

“Through their training and discipline, they were able to stop the attack and detain him” until police arrived, Sheriff Gonzalez said of the An family.

At around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the An family arrived at Yong-In Taekwondo School to prepare for evening classes. They were still in the parking lot when parents Han and Hong An heard a shrill scream coming from the shop next door, according to their eldest son, 20-year-old Simon An.

Shortly before, Han An had seen a man and a woman in the store who appeared to be hugging each other. But when he looked again, he couldn’t see anything and thought it might just be a fight, Simon An said.

When the family opened the dojang, or school, they all heard a loud “scream like in a horror movie,” Simon An said. The Ans rushed to the nearest door, but no one was inside. Sensing something was wrong, Han An opened the door to what Simon An described as the staff room at the back of the store. There he saw a man lying on top of a woman, his hand covering her mouth.

“My father just jumped in,” Simon An said. “He didn’t care if he had a gun or what he could do to my father. He just ripped him out.”

Han An, 59, grabbed the attacker by his shirt collar, dragged him out of the employee lounge and pushed him into a corner of the store, Simon An said. The attacker scratched, bit and punched Han An, said Simon An. The two men were about the same height, and Han An used his body weight to hold the attacker down for 10 minutes until police arrived, said Simon An.

Simon An made sure the attacker did not get up or hurt his father and that all exits were closed. His mother, sister and an employee of another nearby store, who called 911 for them, took the victim to the taekwondo school, Simon An said.

According to Sheriff Gonzalez’s Facebook post, when officers arrived they found “instructors from the Yong-In Tae Kwon Do Dojo” pinning a man to the ground. The instructors heard screaming next door and “observed a man attempting to sexually assault a female,” the post said.

“They were able to pull the female away from her attacker,” he wrote. “Then the male turned to the Good Samaritans.”

The attacker is being held in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Simon An said his family started taekwondo school 17 years ago. He himself started learning taekwondo when he was four years old and every member of his family is a teacher, he said. His father is an eighth-level black belt.

His father always instilled in him respect for others and the importance of discipline and self-control.

If you have power, “use that power to protect people,” Simon An said.