A Jiu-Jitsu Teacher Saw A Man Punch A 7-Eleven Worker, Held Him Until The Cops Came: Video

CHICAGO, IL — The video opens with Idriz Redzovic sitting atop Christopher Cruz, whose arms are stuck, twisted around each other. Redzovic has Cruz pinned to the ground.

“Let me just go,” Cruz says in the Facebook Live video of the incident, streamed by Redzovic.

“You’re going to stay here until the cops come,” Redzovic replies. “You swung at the 7-Eleven employee.”

Redzovic, a jiu-jitsu instructor at Supreme Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Lincoln Park, used his skills to detain Cruz for more than 13 minutes until police arrived at the scene, the video showed, with Redzovic at one point warning a resistant Cruz, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Redzovic had stopped at the store in the 1500 block of West Lawrence Avenue to get Slurpees for his children around 10 p.m. June 16 when he saw Cruz swing at an employee and decided to intervene, taking Cruz to the ground and placing him in a gift wrap hold, Redzovic said in the Facebook post accompanying the video.

“I went live to make sure nothing went on and I had witnesses to have my back,” he said in the post. “People can learn from this footage that violence is not the answer.”

Cruz, 30, had shoplifted food from the store earlier that evening, according to police. When he returned to the business a short time later, a 19-year-old worker told him to leave, and Cruz punched the employee, police said, leading Redzovic to step in.

Cruz, of the 6000 block of North Elston Avenue, was charged with battery and retail theft, both misdemeanors, according to police. He is set to appear in court July 11, police said.

“I never harmed the guy and wish him the best and hope he changes his life around for the better,” Redzovic said in the Facebook post. “Maybe seeing this video might be a wake up call for him.”