Detroit priest administers righteous beatdown to suspected car thief: 'Just another day'

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life that boasts "solid and well-rounded" priests.

Rev. Canon Jean-Baptiste Commins, one of the institute's priests who has served as rector of Detroit's historic St. Joseph Shrine since 2021, demonstrated his solidity on Monday, coming out on top after a round with an 18-year-old suspect accused of stealing a car and crashing into another vehicle outside the church.

'I had to, unfortunately, give him a few punches.'

The young priest — a Franco-American citizen who grew up in a military family and was ordained in 2015 — told WJBK-TV that he was in the church parking lot when he heard the screech of tires followed by a loud crash.

Moments earlier, police spotted a vehicle they believed to have been stolen and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. The suspect clearly had other ideas.

Commins, wearing his priestly cassock, bolted to the source of the commotion and spotted a bloody man wearing only one shoe fleeing the scene. Hearing a cry for someone to stop the one-shoed suspect who was running his way, Commins rushed in for an interception.

The priest tackled and, aided by a parishioner, detained the 18-year-old suspected car thief until police arrived on the scene.

Commins — sporting some scrapes on his knuckles and a pair of bandaged fingers — told WJBK that he "grabbed him and put him down."

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"He was resisting a lot, trying to run away, definitely," the priest continued. "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. It was definitely suspicious behavior and probably guilty of the accident."

After police officers took over for the man of God, Commins rushed back to the site of the accident to check whether the woman in the vehicle that had been struck needed any help, the sacraments, or perhaps even a blessing.

Although Commins said the woman was initially "not very responsive," police said the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Commins told WJBK that once the situation outside his church was resolved, he said his prayers "as usual" and had dinner with the community.

"Just another day in the D!" Commins said, laughing.

The suspect was arrested in connection with the incident, and three others were detained. The Detroit Police Department did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

The advocacy group CatholicVote called the priest "legendary."

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