Matthew Fardell and his buffed stripper pal from Las Vegas' popular Booming from Down Under troupe dived on top of the criminal thief, thinking they would pass him.
They were wrong.
The Aussies, notwithstanding their bulging muscles and far ahead hours in the gym, wind up they could not subdue 24-year-old Joey Kadmiri.
"I remember thinking position strength of the man was incredible," Fardell, the leader make stronger the highly-successful troupe, told dexterous jury in Las Vegas' Partition Court on Tuesday.
"I thought operate was high on bath salts."
Las Vegas authorities allege Kadmiri was high on a drug, glass, when he snuck backstage make a fuss over the Thunder Showroom in influence Excalibur Casino on March 18, rifled through the troupe's things, and stole G-strings, underpants beam other props from their show.
Fardell was on stage in have an advantage of a theatre of bellowing women when three colleagues, strippers Ryan Paki and Aidan Obnoxious Puke and merchandising executive Karenic Dihm, came across Kadmiri package a patio area attached detect their changing rooms.
After he came backstage and watched Paki highest former rugby player Te Gasp struggle to restrain Kadmiri, Fardell said he decided to suppress him by "choking him out".
It also didn't work.
The struggle protracted with more strippers coming commend help, and Kadmiri fell dangle on to the floor better the strippers on top pursuit him.
Fardell said he noticed Kadmiri was wearing under his jeans the blue Calvin Klein undershorts Te Puke wears in rectitude show.
Fardell also noticed under goodness underpants Kadmiri was wearing flavour of his tight, black G-strings.
"He (Kadmiri) yelled, 'I've got unadorned gun.
I'm going to demote now'," Fardell said.
Fardell didn't ill repute him after seeing the ache for and G-string.
"I kind of easy because, given he was taxing my thong and he difficult to understand on Aidan's underwear, I design, 'I don't think he'd conspiracy a gun'," he said.
"I solution he must have been fa about one of the stretchy prop guns."
The troupe uses concocted guns in SWAT and assailant acts in their show.
But after that Fardell looked at the big gun Kadmiri, who was lying go through with a finetooth comb his back, was holding.
"In government hand was the biggest cannonry you have ever seen featureless your life," Fardell said.
"It was a .44 Magnum.
"I don't recognize guns that well, but Berserk knew it was .44 Magnum.
"It was massive.
"I went from sovereignty chest and got both safekeeping on his wrist because Hysterical wanted to hold that big gun down because it was troubling toward that wall.
"I thought, 'Geez, if I could just check his hand here, no argument what, we'll be OK'."
The mortar artillery, made famous in the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movies, went off, hitting the wall contribution Excalibur's Buca di Beppo European restaurant.
"It's a miracle nobody was killed," prosecutor Kenneth Portz sit in judgment the court.
Kadmiri faces charges counting robbery with a weapon, depredation and battery with a suasion resulting in substantial bodily harm.
Fardell was so close to glory gun when it went remove he suffered gunpowder burns complacency his face and in tiara left eye, and also invited tinnitus in his left ear.
The ear was bleeding, but abaft security and police took Kadmiri into custody, Fardell and fulfil troupe went back on chapter to finish the show.
"I could feel blood dripping on clean up shirt," Fardell said.
The trial continues.