Mugger in ninja costume gets painful lesson in manners from etiquette-teaching mom — who also knows how to kickbox

 Myka Meier told the New York Daily News she was enjoying a pleasant walk with her 3-year-old daughter Monday morning in the Chelsea area of Manhattan when a mugger in a ninja costume attacked her from behind.

A 38-year-old etiquette teacher, Meier also happens to be pretty good at kickboxing, the paper said — and she wasn't about to play the victim on this day.

What are the details?

"It felt like he came out of nowhere," she recounted to the Daily News, noting that the crook tried to steal her bag. "He came to my right side, where my bag was, but it was looped around my shoulder. He didn't say anything. I still had my bag in my possession, and I kicked him. I just started kicking. The self-defense courses I've taken took over."

Meier told the paper she also was in "mama bear mode" given her daughter's presence. Here's a lighthearted moment between them posted to Instagram a week before the harrowing encounter:

'I think he was shocked that I fought back'

"I think he was shocked that I fought back," she added to the Daily News. "I think I was more aggressive than he intended. But I train for this stuff. I leave my manners classes, and I go kickbox."

Meier screamed and fought off the ninja-costumed crook — who also was wearing a red cloth around his forehead — before he took off; but she did battle long enough for two construction workers and a doorman to chase him down, the paper said.

"There was a little tug of war over the bag for maybe about a second, and then he started running once I think he saw the attention coming," she noted to the Daily News. "The doorman and the two construction workers did their thing and just grabbed him and held him."

Meier told the paper she was bruised on her back and arms after she fell — albeit still kicking — and tore a thumbnail. She noted that her appearance likely gave the mugger the impression she was an easy target, the Daily News said.

Oh, how wrong he was.

"I don't want to be seen as the helpless victim," Meier told the paper. "I teach etiquette at the Plaza Hotel. I am always in a dress and high heels, but I want people to know that you can be ladylike and fight off an attacker at the same time."

What happened to the suspect?

Police arrested Casique Roman, 41, of Hackensack, New Jersey, and charged him with robbery, the Daily News said, adding that authorities noted he's been busted in New York and New Jersey over the last six years for criminal mischief and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"We got the man, and he's off the streets, and I hope he stays off the streets," Meier told the paper. "This isn't an innocent person. This is a violent man that would attack a mom with her child. He was aggressive. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have just given him my bag. I was just in mama bear mode."

She added to the Daily News that the suspect also is in dire need of etiquette.

"I'm all about educating people on manners," Meier noted to the paper. "This guy certainly needs some."

Here's a clip from Meier's etiquette channel on YouTube recorded earlier this year: