Coventry born, London bred personal trainer and martial
artist Patrick Hutchinson has been motivating people and uplifting his
community long before he became a national hero.
Raised by a Jamaican single mother from the Windrush
generation who did all she could for her son and daughter which included going
without at times to ensure her children were happy. On his fathers side he is
one of nine children, 5 girls and 4 boys.
On a steady path to superseding his dreams, he became a
father at age 19 and has 4 wonderful children, 1 boy his eldest and 3 girls.
Patrick raised his son as a single parent with the help of his mother and
younger sister whilst working in the city in the field of IT. He frequently
travelled to Thailand to endure brutal Muay Thai training camps where he honed
his Thai boxing skills and still does till this day. He accredits a lot of his
mental fortitude to those times training in his beloved Thailand and owes a lot
to his various Kru’s (Instructors). Patricks earliest martial arts memories
came from watching chinese kung fu movies. He then started in the art of Tae
Kwon do at the age of 12. His latest martial arts love affair is with Brazilian
jiu jitsu which he has been doing for 3 years and is still a white belt.
Back in London, he flexed his fitness prowess and innate
abilities as a leader to elevate any and everyone he trained with. Then as an
athletics coach, continued to pass on his wisdom to a host of young rising
sprinters.
More than his phenomenal skills, Patrick's a loyal friend,
uncle and grandfather. He's as resilient, protective and furiously passionate
about his own future as he is about the future of those around him.
And because of that, on Saturday, June 13th, Patrick made a
move that would change the course of history.
Protesters from all over the world took to the streets to
call for justice after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the
hands of police. As fathers, Patrick and his friends Jamaine Facey, Pierre
Noah, Chris Otokito, and Lee Russell were propelled to attend and protect any
who were not met with peace.
However, they were met with
violent aggression among a sea of hooligans with opposing views that had
reached a boiling point. They found one of the far-right protestors heavily intoxicated,
slightly concussed and slumped on some stairs in the middle of an almighty melè
between Waterloo station and the embankment. Patrick picked him up while the
others shielded him and carried him to safety. Humbly retracing their steps,
Patrick says "Some of the protesters were trying to protect him, while
others trying to harm him”. As I was carrying him, he was still receiving
blows. It didn't cross my mind that he might be a counter-protester or hold
prejudices, my instinct was just to get him out of there."
Actions speak louder than words, and the most striking
element of Patrick didn't require any subtext:
it was a black man taking a white man that day out of danger.
Luckily, Patrick's heroic play among chaos was captured on
camera
and in a matter of hours the likes of CNN, The New York
Times, The Guardian, and The BBC started calling.
By morning the photo of Patrick and his friends graced the
cover of newspapers worldwide, and they've collectively been in constant demand
since. Among many things, they've landed features in Men's Health and were
invited by Lord Dr Michael Hastings to the Houses of Parliament.
Off the back of the hype and trajectory of the seminal
moment, they've launched their own initiative called United To Change and
Inspire.
Embracing the power of his new platform and how he's moving
forward, Patrick reflects "I knew I was going to get a bit of attention,
but this is probably 1000 times more than I thought it would be.
I can't say that the man I am now is the man I was 20 years
ago. But as a 50-year-old man with children and grandchildren, I'm trying to be
a peacemaker and making sure that people don't get hurt. These things come with
age.