Clinic Offers Free Self-Defense Class In Time For Holiday Shopping

'Tis the season (unfortunately) for holiday crime. All that shopping can make you a prime target and that's why the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic is offering a series of self-defense classes starting Thursday.

Christine Bui had been working with self-defense instructor Steve Daugherty for about a year and a half when someone came up to her at an out of town Wal-Mart and became aggressive after offering to help her with her groceries.

“He started coming up and instinctively from working with Steve I just got in that stance and I just hit him,” Bui said.

The man got up and ran off but a couple weeks later, her friend sent her a picture of the guy.

“She told me that he just got picked up for attempted abduction for a woman in the same parking lot,” she said.

Bui said her instincts told her the guy was up to no good when he first approached her inside the store. Daugherty said those instincts are usually right. 

“We tell our ladies, 'hey, wait at the entrance, let this gentleman go in front of you, use your eyes, make eye contact, let them know you’re barking up the wrong tree' basically,” he said.

But if it comes down to it, Daugherty wants his students to feel comfortable getting physical.

“It’s not going to feel foreign for them to strike someone,” Daugherty said.

He teaches the five points of contact: nose, chin throat, sternum and groin.

“If you land one good one, you’re out of there, you’re running,” he said. “If there’s no ref, there’s no rules.”

The class is free and begins Dec. 17. The classes are open to any woman, including non-OKCIC patients, wanting to learn hands-on self-defense techniques. The classes will focus on how to defend against rape, con artists, robbery and other physical assaults.

To participate, those interested can call Steve Daugherty at (405) 948-4900 ext. 618. Additional dates include Jan. 14, Feb. 11, March 10, April 14 and May 19.