Ground and Pound, and Return to Sender

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by Loren W. Christensen


Ground and Pound

Let’s say you defend yourself against an attacker by slamming a hard roundhouse kick into the peroneal nerve on the outside of his thigh, sending him crashing to the floor, stunned and helpless. Seeing an opportunity to administer some serious payback, you unleash on him a hailstorm of punches, kicks, and a few head slams into the pavement.

MMA folks have coined the term “ground and pound” for this sort of finishing technique, a phrase used in competition to describe the repeated striking of a downed opponent until the referee calls stop. Outside the ring, law enforcement has a term for it, too. They call it “jail time” — for you. Attorneys have one as well. They call it “give my client your house and your bank account.”

In short, understand that administering a so-called ground and pound in a street self-defense situation places you at risk of criminal charges and being sued civilly for using force that was unnecessary and unreasonable.

A savvy prosecuting attorney will likely bring up the term “ground and pound” to describe how your actions were out of control and went far beyond what was necessary to protect yourself or to protect someone else. “You knocked the attacker to the ground, but instead of taking the opportunity to flee, you chose to beat him senseless.”

Of course, if the knocked-down attacker is still capable of causing you or someone else harm (you must be able to articulate how he is capable of this), you can continue to use reasonable force to restrain or stop him in some other way.

Return to Sender

I know you’ve seen these clips on YouTube. The master blocks the student’s knife thrust, snatches the blade away, and then fillets the guy into a dozen little imaginary chunks. It’s like the master is going all Julia-Childs-on-a-bad-acid-trip on the guy.

Some knife aficionados call this counter “return to sender.” Refer to the above paragraph to see what cops, prosecutors, and civil attorneys call it.

You do not have a right to use deadly force on someone you just disarmed. In fact, some attorneys will successfully switch it around to say that their unarmed client had a right to defend himself against you. Outrageous? Sure, just like it’s outrageous for burglars to sue homeowners because they were injured in the course of breaking in. But they do, and some win.

If you disarm the knife and the attacker has another blade or a gun, or he picks up some other kind of dangerous weapon, it can be argued that you have a right to cut him with the newly obtained knife, but only if there are no escape options. Do train to defend against a knife and to take it away from the attacker, but know when and how you can return it to sender.


• Use only necessary and reasonable force when acting in self-defense.

• Use return to sender only if a deadly threat remains after you have removed the weapon.

• Keep “ground and pound” out of your vocabulary, even if you’re a competitor.

• Be prepared to explain how the term does not describe your personal code of self-defense and training philosophy.

• Be ready to explain that you based your force on the action/reaction format. “The attacker assaulted me [the act], and I responded in self-defense [the reaction]. I continued to defend myself until I had an opportunity to flee (or until I got the attacker under control).”


Save yourself a lot of money and grief by training to get away from the attacker after he has been stunned. Untangle yourself, scoot away from him, get up, and flee. If you have no other choice than to hit him further, do so only enough to give you an opportunity to flee. Or if the situation is such that you have to restrain him, use a pain technique that encourages his cooperation rather than one that causes serious bodily injury.

Take it from a guy who has seen many lives ruined by a burst of temper, an ego-satisfying need for payback, or a final cheap shot. Don’t do it.

Resist the desire and live a hassle-free life

Very nice artical. Very informative and hopefully keeps some people out of trouble.

That's the idea. Keep good people out of trouble/jail.

glad to see your back as well. Sticking around?

Yup...

Always ask yourself, how would I explain this to a jury.

Great stuff!