Jonathan Martin Says He Took Down a Shoplifter at a Los Angeles Mall

After slipping out of national headlines as the subject of bullying with the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Jonathan Martin is making news again after allegedly taking down a shoplifter at a Los Angeles mall.

Martin tweeted to his 25,000 followers Thursday evening that he "took a dude out" who was attempting steal goods from a Versace store.

"

Just took a dude out trying to rob a Versace store #CivicDuty

— Jonathan A. Martin (@J_Martin71) January 9, 2015"

He followed this up with a picture of a man on the ground in the doorway of a store.

"

pic.twitter.com/Dny4Ax8plB

— Jonathan A. Martin (@J_Martin71) January 9, 2015"

In an interview with Shutdown Corner's Kristian Dyer, Martin fleshed out the story of the alleged robbery and his swift handling of the situation.

The 49ers lineman told Dyer that he helped a security officer bring down one of two shoplifters stealing purses from the Versace Collection store at the Beverly Center on Thursday afternoon.

"On Thursday around 4:15 p.m., Martin and a friend from college were out shopping at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles when he said he noticed a shoplifting in progress at the Versace Collection store just a few yards away," Dyer writes.

Dyer continued, writing that Martin grabbed one of the alleged shoplifters and punched him into submission:

"

Martin told Shutdown Corner that he ran across the corridor into the store and helped the security guard in corralling the second alleged shoplifter, who was a man larger than the security guard. Martin said he punched the person "five to eight times" until he went down. He wanted to do just enough to get the man to stop fighting so that he could be subdued by security.

"

Martin said it was a knee-jerk decision to help the security officer.

"I didn't even think," Martin told Dyer. "I just reacted. It wasn't till later when [my friend] said 'He could have had a gun.' I didn't even think about it. I just wanted to help."

Indeed, sometimes help comes in the form of a swift and devastating knuckle-barrage.

So let the lesson be learned: Do not steal expensive leather goods in Martin's presence, and only pass that Versace if you plan to buy it.

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