A French American priest became an overnight hero Tuesday for apprehending the suspect in an attempted hit-and-run near St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit, according to a report.
It was a normal day for Rev. Canon Jean-Baptiste Commins when he heard a loud crash and screeching tires while walking in the shrine’s parking lot. A driver, believed to be in a stolen vehicle, plowed into another car as police tried to initiate a traffic stop nearby, Fox2 Detroit reported.
As the suspect sprinted away from the scene, somebody cried out, “Stop him!” and Commins sprang into action, tackling the man and holding him down while wearing full clerical garb.
The Catholic priest said he was forced to “unfortunately” restrain the runaway driver with a few punches and suffered minor injuries to his hand.
“I grabbed him and put him down,” he told the local affiliate station.
“He was resisting a lot, trying to run away, definitely, and so I had to, unfortunately, give him a few punches and hurt my hand a little bit — nothing major — but making sure that there was no threat, since I didn’t know if he had a gun, if he had a weapon,” Commins continued.
“It was definitely, you know, suspicious behavior and probably guilty of the accident.”
The 18-year-old suspect was later arrested and three others were detained, according to authorities.
After he stopped the teen from running, Commins turned his attention to the female victim in the other vehicle.
“I rushed back to the lady, to make sure, you know, if she needed the Anointing of the Sick or a blessing or something,” he said.
“So I was there, too, with the medics, and she was not very responsive. But her eyes were twitching a little bit.”
The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
After the chaos, Commins carried on with his daily obligations.
“I went and had to do my prayers as usual and have dinner with the community, and wow, just another day, just another day in the D,” the priest said.
Commins serves in the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which provides traditional Latin Mass, according to the National Catholic Register.
He received his education at the institute’s prestigious schools outside of Paris before attending the seminary in Italy.
