Yeah, I love us! He’s says he’s “just a guy.” Everyone else says he’s Viking Guy Subway Hero. I agree!
Adrian Kaczmarek became an international hero after a cellphone video of him putting a combative Expo Line passenger into a chokehold went viral, earning the 31-year-old gym manager nicknames like “Viking Guy” and “Subway Hero.” A YouTube clip of Saturday’s incident has racked up more than 1.3 million views.
Kaczmarek, who describes himself as “just a guy,” spoke with LAist about the incident.
“What the video doesn’t show,” Kaczmarek explains, “is that [the man’s erratic behavior] was happening a few minutes prior to the video getting turned on. The shirtless man kept going up and down the car, he was over in my area and then he was down towards the middle where the incident actually happened. He paced up and down a few times.”
Kaczmarek said that he felt uncomfortable, especially as the situation escalated and the shirtless passenger appeared increasingly out of control, yelling and threatening people.
“There were women and children in the area, so I decided to get up and do something about it,” Kaczmarek says. “I didn’t want to confront him, because I knew he would become even more violent. I didn’t want to punch him and really hurt him. I just wanted to put him in a choke and restrain him and then let the authorities take over from there.” After subduing the passenger with a chokehold, Kaczmarek pinned him down until sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Culver City station. Deputies arrested the passenger on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and alcohol, according to the LA Times.
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There’s nothing more attractive than a strong man. He doesn’t have to be good looking or rich, just a willingness to defend the defenseless.That’s why we love the military,they put themselves in harms way for us.