Codella is an expert at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a contemporary martial art that he used during a 20-year career with the New York Police Department. Graying but still broad-shouldered and fit, he now runs Codella Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy on Staten Island.

“Like most people who got involved in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I saw the early UFC fights,” Codella told me. In those fights, which infamously took place in a cage, he watched a slight young Brazilian named Royce Gracie contort himself in all sorts of weird positions to win an essentially no-holds-barred competition. Amazingly, the men he beat dwarfed him in size and strength. Codella, himself only 5’7″, figured he could incorporate the same holds that this Brazilian used in a cage to subdue much larger men on the street.

Codella recounted a situation that took place during his time on the city’s Special Frauds Squad. “There was some kind of Nigerian bank fraud and the guy actually became confrontational,” he said. “He was tall, lanky, probably like 6’3’’, and he took a fighting stance. Basically, I just took him down with a common jiu-jitsu takedown and mounted him, and he was kicking and trying to buck up. Obviously, he could not. Then, eventually, I just put him in an arm lock where he kind of gave up. And then we just cuffed him… The idea was to just take this big guy down without even having to strike him.”

Using his techniques in the field is safer for the officer as well as the suspect, Codella argued, but it also is better from a PR standpoint. “Especially in today’s climate, it doesn’t look good hitting a guy,” Codella explained.

via I Learned the Art of the Chokehold from a Retired NYPD Officer | VICE United States.