Bellator veteran Melvin Manhoef said he could face criminal charges for arresting a trio of suspected burglars at his home on Monday. But he didn’t apologize for what he said was in response to a threat against his family.
“I [told police] If it happens again I will do it again because it’s my family,” he told MMA Fighting.
Manhoef had just made a statement to the police near Amsterdam. He said he still had glass in his hand from punching through the window of the suspected burglar’s car after he drove it off the road.
When police arrived at the scene of the arrest, Manhoef said he and neighborhood residents had already arrested the men, who he said were later taken to the station. The fighter believes he foiled a crime by interrupting them and then taking action.
“I [made] the right call and they got the wrong one,” he said.
A picture that appears to show two of the men – and Manhoef – circulated on social media after the incident.
Hollanda’da boksör Melvin Manhoef, evine giren hirsızları kaçarken arabayla durdurup dövüp polise teslim etmiş… fotoğrafda ki karizma şaka mı pic.twitter.com/0NN9zvVZHy
— Galatasaray Hollanda (@GS_Hollanda) March 28, 2022
Manhoef said he had already complained to the police about the alleged burglars. He claimed the men had sheathed his home on several occasions, beginning last Saturday when he went to Paris to promote his retirement fight, a light heavyweight meet with Yoel Romero at the Bellator 280, and asked friends and family about the neighborhood too wake up.
The men first tested the water by sticking papers in his door, Manhoef said, to see if anyone in the house removed them. He said his wife asked neighbors with a surveillance camera to see what happened and footage showed a man looking into their home. The man later returned in a car, he said, and left when a light came on in the house. The neighbors wrote down the make and license plate of the car.
On Monday, he said he and his wife were out of the house when his neighbors called to say the men were back. He rushed back and found nothing, but decided to wait for the car. After 30 minutes he was about to leave when the car reappeared.
“I parked my car in front of her and watched her,” he said. “They saw me and they looked at me and they turned slightly and walked away. After that I followed her.
“I was chasing them and then I crashed into the back of them and I couldn’t stop them because they were still going fast. And then I move to the side and smack them from the side. So they pulled into, what do you call it, the curb and the car spun and skidded. And we crashed.
“So I fell, I fell the whole car, and then the car stopped in the middle of the road, like horizontal, in the middle of the road. And I jumped out of the car and said, ‘Come here’ because they had their burglar things in the house. I said, “Open the window,” and I smashed the window, and I pulled the guy out, opened the door, and put the guy on the floor. I screamed, I was crazy. Everyone puts their hands and knees on the floor. Some people helped, they came out of their homes and called 911. They were there within minutes.”
Manhoef said the road where the collision happened was isolated and no one was seriously injured.
The fighter called it “a disgrace” to have to escalate the situation by taking the law into his own hands. Usually, he said, his neighborhood is quiet and he avoids confrontations. However, when his family was threatened, he felt compelled to act.
“Because if they break in and my wife is there, they tie up my wife or kid, I couldn’t forgive myself,” he said. “My instinct was, you can’t get around my family. That’s rule #1. Don’t touch my family. If you do that, yes, you will pay for it.”
“If I need to be charged, that’s what it is,” he later added. “I did something wrong by hitting the car, but I did it on purpose because I know they were at my house.”
The legal ramifications of Manhoef’s actions are unclear at this time, but he said his hand injury shouldn’t keep him away from the gym for more than two weeks. He’s looking forward to retirement.
“I’m 45 and young people want the throne, so sometimes you have to step back and do something else,” he said.