Police officers have difficult tasks they have to tend to daily and many of those tasks can be life-threatening or worse yet, deadly to themselves or to others or both. One of the most difficult situations a police officer could ever get into would be a "hands on" scuffle with a person who's much larger and more powerful than they are and is either unafraid or high or both. The officer has all kinds of "tools" at his or her disposal but those tools don't always work well and these days the officer tends to second guess the deployment of those tools. That "second guessing" by the officer quite often results in injury or death to at least one or most involved, the police and those others on scene.
In this particular situation Ashley Hardesty, the 27 yrs. old police officer responded to a complaint at an Elmwood Avenue gas station parking lot in Columbia, S.C. and was immediately confronted by angry customers, employees... witnesses and victims who wanted a man arrested for assaulting several of them. The suspect was a large, powerful, enraged male who had already assaulted several of the customers and employees at the gas station. He appeared to be unarmed when the officer arrived but the officer wasn't positive. Either way, the officer notified the dispatcher that she had arrived on the scene and then she exited her vehicle to approach the assailant. When the assailant observed the officer he turned his anger towards her and a fight ensued. Somewhere along the way she deployed her taser and tased the suspect.
The confrontation went downhill very rapidly from there until a good samaritan stepped in and, after tackling the officer's assailant he pinned the assailant to the ground until the officer could get the assailant properly restrained.
The assailant went to jail and will most likely be charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors, the officer received first aid for her injuries and went back on shift and the savior, the man who virtually eliminated the threat bought his pack of Newport cigarettes and went back to his rehabilitation and transition center where he's a tenant.
The samaritan? He's Cray Turmon — "a homeless man going on 50 years old who's fallen on some hard times." He's a welder looking for work. Turmon realizes he has a drinking problem and he's doing something about it while he's recovering at "Transitions", a place that helps those who want help. He's been dry and sober for awhile now and, with the aid of the folks at Transitions he'll become another productive member of society again, soon. The good Lord knows we all have had our bouts with our own, inner beasts and most of us have seemed to pull through with the help and support of others. This Cray Turmon man, he exhibited that he has those top shelf values when it comes to recognizing evil and selflessly intervening on behalf of others when that evil comes knocking.
We need more people like Cray Turmon in our neighborhoods. Someone find this man a job.
Thank you for being there Mr. Turmon. Like it or not you're a hero.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The very well written article referenced in this post was referenced in the Miami Herald. It's an article authored by Clif LeBlanc cleblanc@thestate.com
IMHO
#
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment