285lb Teen Wrestling Champ Body-Slams Kidnapping Suspect, Pins Him Down Until Police Arrive

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A terrifying kidnapping attempt at a Chucky’s gas station in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, was foiled by 16-year-old high school wrestler Canaan Bower, who used his athletic skills to pin the perpetrator until police arrived.

Bower was across the street from Chucky’s, pumping gas at a Circle K station when he saw blows being exchanged between the would-be-kidnapper, 22-year-old Daniel Arroyo Beltran, and a mother of three children, aged 9, 2, and 1.

The mother and kids had just gotten off a Greyhound Bus and were waiting for an Uber driver to arrive when she was approached by Arroyo, who began harassing her and demanding that she hand over the children. She resisted, and he knocked her over and then assaulted several other people who attempted to intervene.

The mother and children, assisted by gas station employees, who called 911 to report the attempted kidnapping, were then herded into a safe room inside the gas station.

“Punches were being thrown and (he could hear) screams of terror, so he jumped in his truck and went across the street,” Canaan’s dad, Troy Bower, told the Las Cruces Sun-News. “By the time he got there, [the mother and her children] had gone inside and so he got out of his truck and went inside—and there was a whole bunch of blood all over the floor.”

But the enraged kidnapper never saw the 285-pound (approx. 129-kilogram) heavyweight district wrestling champion coming and soon found himself “body-slammed” and “in a chokehold,” Troy Bower said.

Canaan’s arrival made a huge difference in the situation as nothing the customers and employees had done was able to stop the crazed Arroyo. Canaan’s mom, Kara Garrett Bower, explained in a Facebook post, “The gas station clerk told (Canaan’s dad), ‘we were hitting him with brooms and bottles and it didn’t slow him down. Another guy tried and got his face caved in. Your son shows up and boom it was over right away.’”

Canaan’s parents were obviously proud of his accomplishment; his dad, Troy, couldn’t help worrying about his son charging in with no thought for his own life. “You don’t know if this guy’s maybe got a gun or a knife—you don’t know what this guy’s capable of,” Troy told the Sun, adding, “It’s very terrifying that your child put himself at risk but, at the same time, confident that he would do the right thing and succeed in doing it.”

Noting the teen’s bravery, Team USA Wrestling also shared his mom’s Facebook post, which noted that Canaan had recently won a district heavyweight championship, and then added, “With no regards for his own safety Canaan grabbed the man and threw him to the ground, where he kept him pinned until the police arrived about five minutes later.”

Canaan’s heroic actions weren’t only saluted by Team USA Wrestling; the 16-year-old even got a congratulatory message from Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. White wrote on Twitter, “Hey Canaan Bower u are AWESOME!!! When this Twilight Zone episode [coronavirus pandemic] is over i would love to meet u.”

The Dona Ana County Sheriff’s office also acknowledged the young man’s bravery, per local news station KFOX, affirming that “[h]ad it not been for Bower’s quick response, the outcome may have been very different.”