A priest walking in the street in a cassock holding an umbrella and a paper bag, in Besancon, Doubs department, France, on June 22, 2024. (Romain Costaseca – Hans Lucas – AFP / Getty Images)
By Spencer Lombardo June 14, 2026 at 3:00am
A priest subdued a suspected car thief outside a shrine on Tuesday.
Rev. Jean-Baptiste Commins tackled a man suspected of stealing and crashing a car outside of the St. Joseph Shine in Detroit, WJBK-TV reported on June 2.
The 18-year old suspect and three others were arrested, according to the outlet. The woman who owned the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The Detroit Police Department and the Archdiocese of Detroit did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
A priest in full cassock tackled a car thief.
Rev. Jean-Baptiste Commins was in the parking lot of St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit when he heard screeching tires and a loud crash.
A man had crashed a stolen vehicle outside the church and tried to run.
Fr. Commins chased him down,… pic.twitter.com/jmZFYJgFZW
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) June 3, 2026
The Franco-American priest was in full cassock when he and a parishioner held the single-shoed suspect down while awaiting the police’s arrival, according to WJBK.
“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,” Rev. Commins told WJBK.
“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 reportedly said. “So I was there, too, with the medics, and she was not very responsive. But her eyes were twitching a little bit.”
“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,” he told WJBK when asked what he did after the incident.
There were 64 reported carjackings in Detroit last year, according to the Detroit Police Department.
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